PARIS 

ITS  SITES,  MONUMENTS  AND  HISTORY 


PARIS 

ITS  SITES,  MONUMENTS  AND  HISTORY 


COMPILED    FROM   THE   PRINCIPAL   SECONDARY 
AUTHORITIES    BY 

MARIA  HORNOR  LANSDALE 


WITH  AN  INTRODUCTION  BY 

HILAIRE    BELLOC,  B.  A. 

LATB   BRACKENBUKY   HISTORY  SCHOLAR   OP   EALLIOL 
COLLEGE,  OXFORD 


ILLUSTRATED 


PHILADELPHIA 

HENRY  T.  COATES  &   CO. 
1899 


Copyright,  1898,  by 
HENRY  T.  COATES  &  CO. 


CONTENTS. 


CHAPTER  PAGE 

I.  Introduction, 1 

II.  LUTETIA,      43 

III.  Paris  in  the  Dark  Ages,      .    .  • 74 

IV.  Paris  of  the  Early  Middle  Ages, 125 

V.  Paris  of  the  Later  Middle  Ages, 189 

VI.  The  Medicean  Period, 257 

VII.  Paris  Under  Henry  IV.,      296 

VIII.  The  Seventeenth  Century,  from  IGIO  to  1661,   .  321 

IX.  Louis  XIV., 360 

X.  Louis  XV.,     406 

XI.  The  Revolution,  the  Consulate,  and  the  First 

Empire, 447 

XII.  Paris  in  the  Nineteenth  Century, 503 

(v) 


LIST  OF  ILLUSTRATIONS. 


PAGE 

Panorama  of  the  Seven  Bridges  on  the  Seine,  .  Frontispiece 

Notre  Dame  from  the  Kiver, 9 

Arc  de  Triomphe, 18 

Conciergerie  (Quai  de  l'Horloge), 22 

MusEE  DE  Cluny,     64 

Church  of  St.  Germain  des  Pres, 115 

St.  Germain  l'Atjxerrois, 140 

Sainte  Chapelle, 151 

Notre  Dame,  West  Front, 163 

Statue  of  Jeanne  d'Arc  in  Place  de  Rivoli, 200 

The  Louvre  OF  Charles  v., 216 

Courtyard  of  Musee  de  Cluny, 251 

Hotel  de  Ville  in  the  Time  of  Louis  XIIL, 263 

Tour  St.  Jacques, 269 

House  of  Francis  First, 283 

St.  Etienne  du  Mont, 293 

Statue  of  Henry  IV.,  by  Lemot, 300 

Pont  Neuf, 315 

Palais  and  Jardin  Royal, 335 

Salle  des  Cariatides  in  the  Louvre, 346 

Palace  of  the  Luxembourg, 357 

The  Palace  of  the  Louvre, 369 

Rue  Royale,     377 

Hotel  dp:s  Invalides,     403 

The  Pantheon, 443 

The  Palace  of  the  Tuileries, 476 

Church  of  the  Madeleine,     483 

Hotel  de  Ville  op  To-Day, 506 

Grand  Opera  House,     511 

Tomb  of  Napoleon  First  in  Hutkl  des  Invalides,     .   .  527 

(Yii) 


468308 


PARIS. 

CHAPTER    I. 

INTRODUCTION. 

When  a  man  looks  eastward  from  the  western 
heights  that  dominate  the  city,  especially  from  that 
great  hill  of  Valerian  (round  which  so  many  memories 
from  Ste.  Genevieve  to  the  last  war  accumulate),  a 
sight  presents  itself  which  shall  be  the  modern  start- 
ing-point of  our  study. 

Let  us  suppose  an  autumn  day,  clear,  with  wind 
following  rain,  and  with  a  gray  sky  of  rapid  clouds 
against  which  the  picture  may  he  set.  In  such  a 
weather  and  from  such  a  spot  the  whole  of  the  vast 
town  lies  clearly  before  you,  and  the  impression  is 
one  that  you  will  not  match  nor  approach  in  any  of 
the  views  that  have  grown  famous  5  for  Avhat  you  see 
is  unique  in  something  that  is  neither  the  nortli  nor 
the  south  I  something  which  contains  little  of  scenic 
interest  and  nothing  of  dramatic  grandeur ;  some- 
thing whicli  men  have  forborne  to  describe  because 
when  they  hav(;  known  T*aris  well  enough  to  compre- 

1  (1) 


2  PARIS. 

hend  that  horizon,  why  then  her  people,  her  history, 
her  life  from  Avithin,  have  dominated  every  other  in- 
terest and  have  occupied  all  their  powers.  Never- 
theless this  sight,  caught  from  the  hill-top,  shall  be 
our  first  introduction  to  the  city  ;  for  I  know  of  no 
other  which  so  profoundly  stirs  the  mind  of  one  to 
whom  the  story  and  even  the  modern  nature  of  the 
place  is  vmknown. 

There  lies  at  your  feet — its  fortifications  some  two 
miles  away — 'a  great  plain  of  houses.  Its  inequalities 
are  lost  in  the  superior  height  from  which  you  gaze, 
save  where  in  the  north  the  isolated  summit  of  Mont- 
martre,  crowned  with  the  scaffolding  of  its  half-finished 
church,  looks  over  the  city  and  ansAvers  the  hill  of 
Valerian. 

This  plain  of  houses  fills  the  eye  and  the  mind, 
yet  it  is  not  so  vast  but  that,  dimly,  on  the  clearest 
days  the  heights  beyond  it  to  the  east  can  be  just  per- 
ceived, while  to  the  north  the  suburbs  and  the  open 
country  appear,  and  to  the  south  the  hills.  Whiter 
than  are  the  northern  towns  of  Europe,  yet  standing 
under  a  northern  sky,  it  strikes  with  the  force  of 
sharp  contrast,  and  half  ex])lains  in  that  one  feature 
its  Latin  origin  and  destiny.  It  is  veiled  by  no  cloud 
of  smoke,  for  industry,  and  more  especially  the  in- 
dustry of  our  day,  has  not  been  the  motive  of  its 
growth.  The  fantastic  and  even  grandiose  efi'ects 
which  are  the  joy  of  London  Avill  never  be  discovered 
here.     It  does  not  fill  by  a  kind  of  gravitation  tiiis  or 


INTRODUCTION.  3 

that  group  of  arteries ;  it  forms  no  line  along  the 
water-course,  nor  does  it  lose  itself  in  those  vague 
contours  which  the  necessity  of  exchange  frequently 
determines,  for  Paris  was  not  made  by  commerce ; 
nor  will  any  theory  of  material  conditions  and  envi- 
ronment read  you  the  riddle  of  its  growth  and  form. 
It  is  not  the  mind  of  the  on-looker  that  lends  it 
unity,  nor  the  emotions  of  travel  that  make  it,  for 
those  who  see  it  thus,  one  thing.  Paris,  as  it  lies 
before  you  from  those  old  hills  that  have  watched  her 
for  two  thousand  years,  has  the  effect  and  character 
of  personal  life.  Not  in  a  metaphor  nor  for  the  sake 
of  phrasing,  but  in  fact ;  as  truly  as  in  the  case  of 
Rome,  though  in  a  manner  less  familiar,  a  separate 
existence  with  a  soul  of  its  own  appeals  to  you.  Its 
voice  is  no  reflection  of  your  own  mind ;  on  the  con- 
trary, it  is  a  troubling  thing,  like  an  insistent  de- 
mand spoken  in  a  foreign  tongue.  Its  corporate  life 
is  not  an  abstraction  drawn  from  books  or  from  things 
one  has  heard.  There,  visibly  before  you,  is  the  com- 
pound of  the  modern  and  the  middle  ages,  whose 
unity  convinces  merely  by  being  seen. 

And,  alxjve  all,  this  thing  upon  which  you  are 
looking  is  alive.  It  needs  no  recollection  of  what  has 
been  taught  in  youth,  nor  any  of  those  reveries 
which  arise  at  the  identification  of  things  seen  with 
names  remembered.  The  antiquarian  passion,  in  its 
best  form  pedantic  and  in  its  worst  maudlin,  finds 
little  room   in   the   first   aspect   of  Paris.     Jjater,  it 


4  PARIS. 

takes  its  proper  rank  in  all  the  mass  of  Avhat  we  may 
learn,  but  the  town,  as  you  see  it,  recalls  history  only 
by  speaking  to  you  in  a  living  voice.  Its  past  is  still 
alive,  because  the  city  itself  is  still  instinct  with  a 
vigorous  growth,  and  you  feel  with  regard  to  Paris 
what  you  would  feel  with  regard  to  a  young  man  full 
of  memories  ;  not  at  all  the  quiet  interest  which  lies 
in  the  recollections  of  age ;  still  less  that  happy 
memory  of  things  dead  which  is  a  fortune  for  so  many 
of  the  most  famous  cities  of  the  world. 

Whence  proceeds  this  impression,  and  Avhat  is  the 
secret  of  its  origin  ?  Why,  that  in  all  this  immense 
extent  an  obvious  unity  of  design  appears ;  not  in 
one  quarter  alone,  but  over  the  whole  circumference 
stand  the  evidences  of  this  creative  spirit.  It  is  not 
the  rich  building  for  themselves  in  their  own  quarter, 
nor  the  officials  concentrating  the  common  wealth 
upon  their  own  buildings  j  it  is  Paris,  creating  and  re- 
creating her  own  adornment,  realizing  her  own  dreams 
upon  every  side,  insisting  on  her  own  vagaries, 
committing  follies  which  are  her  own  and  not  that  of  a 
section  of  her  people,  even  here  and  there  chiselling 
out  something  as  durable  as  Europe. 

Look  at  the  great  line  before  you  and  note  these 
evidences  of  a  mind  at  work.  Here,  on  your  right, 
monstrous,  grotesque  and  dramatic  in  tlie  extreme 
rises  that  great  ladder  of  iron,  the  Eiffel,  to  its  tliou- 
sand  foct,  meant  to  be  merely  engineering,  and  there- 
fore christened  at  its  birth  by  all  the  bad  fairies,  but 


INTRODUCTION.  5 

managing  (as  though  the  spirit  of  the  city  had 
laughed  at  its  own  folly)  to  assume  something  of 
grace,  and  losing  in  a  very  delicate  grey,  in  a  good 
curve,  and  in  a  film  of  fine  lines,  the  grossness  which 
its  builders  intended.  It  stands  up,  close  to  our 
western  standpoint,  foolishly.  It  is  twice  as  high  as 
this  hill  of  Valerian  from  which  we  are  looking  ;  its 
top  is  covered  often  in  hurrying  clouds,  and  it  seems 
to  be  saying  perpetually  :  "  I  am  the  end  of  the  nine- 
teenth century  ',  I  am  glad  they  built  me  of  iron  ;  let 
me  rust."  It  is  far  on  the  outskirts  of  the  tOAvn, 
where  all  the  rest  of  the  things  that  Paris  has  made 
can  look  at  it  and  laugh  contentedly.  It  is  like  a 
passing  fool  in  a  crowd  of  the  University,  a  buffoon 
in  the  hall ;  for  of  all  the  things  that  Paris  has  made, 
it  alone  has  neither  wits  nor  soul. 

But  just  behind  it  and  somewhat  to  the  left  the 
dome  you  see  gilded  is  the  Invalides,  the  last  and, 
perhaps,  the  best  relic  of  seventeenth  century  taste, 
and  with  that  you  touch  ground  and  have  to  do  with 
Paris  again ;  for  just  beneath  it  is  Napoleon,  and  in 
the  short  roof  to  the  left  of  it,  in  the  chapel,  the  flags 
of  all  the  nations.  Behind  that,  again,  almost  the 
last  thing  the  eighteenth  century  left  us,  is  the  other 
dome  of  the  Pantheon.  How  great  a  space  in  ideas 
between  it  and  the  Invalides !  Between  Mansard 
and  Soufflot !  Its  dome  is  in  a  false  proportion;  a 
great  hulking  colonnade  deforms  its  middle;  its  sides 
and    its   decorations   are   cold   and  bare.     The  gulf 


6  PARIS. 

between  these  two,  compared,  is  the  gulf  between 
Louis  XIV.  and  the  last  years  of  decay  that  made 
necessary  the  Revolution.  It  stands,  grey,  ugly  and 
without  meaning,  the  relic  of  a  grey  and  ugly  time. 
But  you  note  that  it  caps  a  little  eminence,  or  what 
seems,  from  our  height  and  distance,  to  be  a  little 
eminence.  That  hill  is  the  hill  of  Ste.  Genevieve, 
"Mons  Lucotetius,"  Mont  Parnasse.  On  its  sides 
and  summit  the  University  grew,  and  at  its  base  the 
Revolution  was  born  in  the  club  of  the  Cordeliers. 

It  will  repay  one  well  to  look,  on  this  clear  day, 
and  to  strain  the  eyes  in  watching  that  hummock — a 
grey  and  confused  mass  of  houses,  with  the  ugly 
dome  we  spoke  of,  on  its  summit.  A  lump,  a  little 
higher  than  the  rest,  half-way  up  the  hill,  is  the  Sor- 
bonne ;  upon  the  slopes  towards  us  two  unequal 
square  towers  mark  St.  Sulpice — a  heap  of  stones. 
Yet  all  this  confusion  of  unlovely  things,  which  the  dis- 
tance turns  into  a  blotch  wherein  the  Pantheon  alone 
can  be  distinguished,  is  a  very  noteworthy  square 
mile  of  ground ;  for  at  its  foot  Jidian  the  Apostate 
held  his  little  pagan  circle  ;  at  its  summit  are  the 
relics  of  Ste.  Genevieve.  Here  Abelard  awoke  the 
"  great  curiosity "  from  its  long  sleep,  and  here  St. 
Bernard  answered  him  in  the  name  of  all  the  mystics. 
Here  Dante  studied,  and  here  Innocent  HI.  was 
formed.  Here  is  the  unique  arena  where  Catholicism 
and  the  Rationalists  meet,  and  where  a  great  strug- 
gle is  never  completed.     Here,  as  in  symbol  of  that 


INTRODUCTION.  7 

wrestling,  the  cross  is  perpetually  rising  above  and 
falling  from  the  Pantheon — now  torn  down,  now  rein- 
stated. Beneath  that  ugly  dome  lie  Voltaire  and 
Rousseau ;  in  one  of  the  gloomy  buildings  on  that 
hill  Robespierre  was  taught  the  stoicism  of  the 
ancients  and  sat  on  the  bench  with  Desmoulins  ;  at 
its  flank,  in  the  Cordehers,  Danton  forged  out  the 
scheme  of  the  Republic ;  it  was  thence  that  the  fire 
spread  in  '92  which  overthrew  the  old  nyime  ;  here, 
again,  the  students  met  and  laughed  and  plotted 
against  the  latest  despotism.  It  was  from  the  steps 
of  that  unlovely  Pantheon,  with  "  To  the  great  men 
of  France  "  carved  above  him,  that  Gambetta  declared 
the  third  RepubHc.  It  was  the  4th  of  September, 
1870,  and  it  rained. 

There  is,  however,  in  the  view  before  you  another 
spot,  touching  almost  the  hill  which  we  have  been 
noting,  and  of  yet  more  importance  in  the  story  of 
the  city,  though  it  may  not  be  so  in  the  story  of  the 
world, — I  mean  the  Island  of  the  Cite. 

From  this  distance  we  cannot  see  the  gleam  of  the 
water  on  either  side  of  it;  moreover,  the  houses  hide 
the  river  and  the  bridges.  Nevertheless,  knowing 
what  lies  there,  we  can  make  out  the  group  of  build- 
ings which  is  the  historic  centre  of  Paris,  and  from 
whence  the  town  has  radiated  outwards  during  the 
last  fourteen  centuries. 

We  are  five  miles  away,  and  catch  only  its  most 
evident    marks.     We    see  the    square  mass   of  the 


8  PARIS. 

Palais,  whence,  uninterruptedly,  for  eighteen  liundred 
years  the  government  has  held  its  courts  and  its  share 
in  the  administration  of  the  town.  Perhaps,  if  it  is 
very  clear,  the  conical  roofs  of  the  twin  towers  of  the 
Conciergerie  can  be  made  out ;  and,  certainly,  to  the 
right  of  them  we  see  the  high-pitched  roof  and  the 
thin  spire  of  the  Sainte  Chapelle,  Avhich  St.  Louis 
built  to  cover  the  Holy  Lance  and  the  Crown  of 
Thorns.  But  the  most  striking  feature  of  the  Island 
and  the  true  middle  of  the  whole  of  Paris  will  be  clear 
always  even  at  this  distance, — I  mean  the  Cathedral 
of  Notre  Dame. 

The  distance  and  the  larger  aspect  of  nearer  things 
make  exiguous  the  far  towers  as  they  stand  above 
the  houses.  You  look,  apparently,  at  a  little  thing, 
but  even  from  here  it  has  about  it  the  reverence  of 
the  middle  ages.  In  that  distance  all  is  subdued ; 
but  these  towers,  which  are  grey  to  a  man  at  their 
very  feet,  seem  to  possess  to  a  watcher  from  Valerian 
the  quality  of  a  thin  horizon  cloud. 

I  know  not  how  to  describe  this  model  of  the  middle 
ages — built  into  the  modern  town,  standing  (from 
whichever  way  you  look)  in  its  very  centre,  so  small, 
so  distant,  and  yet  so  majestic.  Amiens  and  Rheims, 
Strasburg,  Chartres  and  Rouen — all  the  great  houses 
of  the  Gothic,  as  they  pass  before  our  minds,  have 
something  at  once  less  pathetic  and  less  dignified. 
They  are  no  larger  than  Notre  Dame ;  they  have  not 
— even   Rheims   has    not — her   force   of  repose,   of 


INTRODUCTION.  9 

height  and  of  design.  But  they  stand  in  provincial 
cities.  The  modern  world  affects,  without  trans- 
forming, their  surroundings.  Amiens  stands  head 
and  shoulders  above  the  town ;  Rheims,  as  you  see  it 
coming  in  from  camp,  looks  like  a  great  sphinx 
brooding  over  the  champaign  and  always  gazing  out 
to  the  west  and  the  hills  of  the  Tourdenoise;  Stras- 
burg  is  almost  theatrical  in  its  assertion;  Chartres  is 
the  largest  thing  in  a  rural  place,  and  is  the  natural 
mother  of  the  Beauce,  the  patroness  and  protectress 
of  endless  fields  of  corn;  and  even  Rouen,  though  it 
stands  in  the  hum  of  machinery  and  in  the  centre  of 
countless  industries,  is  so  placed  that,  come  from 
whichever  way  you  will,  it  is  the  dominant  fact  in 
the  town. 

But  Notre  Dame  is  always  one  of  many  things 
and  not  the  greatest.  She  was  built  for  a  little 
Gothic  town  and  a  huge  metropolis  has  outgrown  her. 
The  town  was  once,  so  to  speak,  the  fringe  of  her 
garment ;  now  she  is  but  the  centre  of  a  circle  miles 
around.  There  are  but  three  spots  in  Paris  from 
which  the  old  church  alone  takes  up  the  mind,  as  do 
the  churches  of  the  provincial  towns ;  I  mean  from 
the  Quai  de  la  Tournelle,  from  the  Parvis,  and  from 
the  Place  de  Greve.  And  yet  she  gradually  becomes 
more  to  the  spirit  of  those  who  see  her  than  do  any 
of  these  other  churches,  for  the  very  anomaly  of  her 
position  leads  to  close  observance,  and  she  touches  the 
mind  at  last  like  a  woman  Avho  has  been  continually 


10  PARIS. 

silent  in  a  strange  company.  To  a  man  who  loves 
and  knows  the  city,  there  soon  comes  a  desire  to  con- 
stantly communicate  with  the  memories  of  the  Cathe- 
dral. And  this  desire,  if  he  is  wise,  grows  into  a 
habit  of  coming  close  against  the  towers  at  evening, 
or  of  Avaiting  under  the  great  height  of  the  nave  for 
the  voices  of  the  middle  ages. 

Notre  Dame  thus  lost  in  distance,  central  and  re- 
mote, is  like  a  lady  grown  old  in  a  great  house,  about 
whose  age  new  phrases  and  strange  habits  have  arisen, 
who  is  surrounded  with  the  youth  of  her  own  lineage 
and  yet  is  content  to  hear  and  understand  without  re- 
plying to  their  speech.  She  is  silent  in  the  midst  of 
energy,  and  forgotten  in  the  many  activities  of  the 
household,  yet  she  is  the  centre  of  the  estate,  and  but 
for  her  the  family  would  be  broken  up  and  the  home 
grow  desolate.  And  to  me  at  least,  when  I  see  in 
that  famous  view  her  square  towers  draped  and  veiled 
by  distance,  it  has  something  of  the  effect  made  by  a 
single  small  harbor-light  which  shines  Avhen  one  is 
coming  in  at  the  dead  of  a  night,  and  with  sweeps 
from  lack  of  wind,  while  all  about  one,  in  a  high  port- 
city  and  in  the  great  black  landscape  of  cliffs,  no  other 
beacon  is  showing. 

There  stands,  then,  in  the  midst  of  our  view  this 
little  group  of  the  Island  of  the  Cite,  the  old  Roman 
town  Avith  which  so  much  of  our  history  Avill  deal. 
As  the  eye  turns  to  the  left,  that  is  to  the  northern 
half  of  the  town,  it   is  passing  over  the  place  of  its 


INTEODUCTION.  11 

great  expansion.  It  is  here  that  Paris  has  worked 
and  has  grown,  while  Paris  of  the  centre  governed 
and  Paris  of  the  south  thought  and  studied.  It  is  in 
this  half  of  the  city  that  we  shall  note  her  greatest 
theatres,  her  most  famous  modern  streets,  her  houses 
of  rich  men,  her  palaces,  even  her  industries. 

But  this  northern  half  has  little  to  distinguish  it  in 
a  general  panorama ;  here  and  there  a  spire  or  tower 
or  a  column,  but  as  a  rule  only  a  mass  of  high  houses 
in  which  even  the  distant  Louvre  seems  to  possess  no 
special  prominence,  and  in  which  the  Palais  Royal, 
the  Madeleine,  the  Bourse  are  so  many  roofs  only,  con- 
spicuous in  nothing  but  their  surface.  The  old  world 
makes  but  little  effect  from  the  distance  at  which  we 
stand,  and  indeed  is  less  apparent  in  the  northern 
half  of  the  city  even  to  a  spectator  who  is  placed 
within  its  streets.  Close  against  the  Island  you  may 
perhaps  catch  the  fine  square  tower  of  St.  Jacques, 
the  last  of  the  Gothic ;  but  with  that  exception  the 
view  of  the  left  side  is  modern.  If  we  may  connect 
it  with  any  one  period  or  man  rather  than  another,  it 
is  Napoleon  that  its  few  prominent  points  recall. 
Between  us  and  the  heart  of  the  city  is  the  ridge  of 
Passy;  less  than  a  mile  from  the  fortifications  and  on 
the  summit  of  this  ridge  the  great  Trium})hal  Arch  full 
of  his  battles  and  his  generals'  names. 

You  may  see  beyond  it,  towards  the  more  central 
parts  of  the  town,  a  line  liere  and  tiicre  of  those 
straight  streets  so  many  of  which  he   planned,  and 


12  PARIS. 

neai'ly  all  of  wliicli  are  due  to  his  influence  upon 
Paris.  Thus  opening  straiglit  before  you,  but  miles 
away,  running  to  the  Louvre  and  on  to  the  Hotel  de 
Ville,  is  that  Rue  de  Rivoli  Avhich  is  so  characteris- 
tically his,  obliterating,  as  did  his  own  career,  the 
memories  of  the  Revolution.  Running  over  the  spot 
where  the  riding-school  stood,  and  where  Mirabeau 
helped  to  found  a  new  Avorld,  draining  the  Rue  St. 
Honore  (that  republican  gulf)  of  half  its  traffic,  it 
strikes  the  note  of  the  new  Paris  which  the  nine- 
teenth century  has  designed. 

Just  off  the  line  of  this  street  you  may  catch  the 
bronze  column,  the  Vendome,  which  again  perpetu- 
ates Napoleon ;  it  stands  well  above  the  houses  and 
rivals  the  other  column  w^hich  distance  scarcely  per- 
mits us  to  discern,  and  which  overlooks  the  site  of  the 
Bastille. 

But  when  w^e  have  noted  these  few  points,  have 
tried  to  make  out  the  new  Hotel  de  Ville  (as  distant 
and  less  clear  than  Notre  Dame),  and  have  marked 
the  great  mass  of  the  opera  roof,  the  general  aspect 
of  the  northern  bank  is  told.  There  is  nothing  on 
which  the  eye  rests  as  a  central  point.  Only  in  itself, 
and  without  the  aid  of  monuments,  the  great  expanse 
of  wealth  and  of  energy  fringing  off  into  the  indus- 
tries of  the  northern  and  western  roads  shows  us  at 
once  the  modern  Paris  that  works  and  enjoys. 

One  last  feature  remains  to  be  spoken  of  while  we 
are  still  looking  upon  the  view  at  our  feet,  and  before 


INTKODUCTION.  13 

we  go  down  into  the  city  to  notice  the  closer  aspect 
of  its  streets  and  buildings.  I  mean  the  hill  of  Mont- 
martre.  It  Hes  on  the  extreme  left  as  Ave  gaze,  that 
is  in  the  northernmost  part  of  the  city,  just  Avithin  the 
fortifications,  and  rises  isolated  and  curiously  steep 
above  the  whole  plain  of  the  northern  quarter.  No 
city  has  so  admirable  a  place  of  vantage,  and  in  no 
other  is  the  position  so  unspoiled  as  here.  For  cen- 
turies, from  the  time  when  it  was  far  outside  the 
medieval  Avails,  Montmartre  has  been  the  habitation 
of  bohemians  and  chance  poor  men.  Luckily  it  has 
remained  undisturbed  to  this  day.  And  if  you  climb 
it  you  look  right  doAvn  upon  the  tOAvn  from  the  best 
and  most  congenial  of  surroundings.  Nothing  there 
reminds  you  of  a  municipality  forcing  you  to  acknowl- 
edge the  site  and  the  a^cav.  There  is  not  a  park  or 
statue,  not  even  a  square.  A  ramshackle  cafe  Avith 
dirty  plaster  statues,  a  half-finished  church,  a  pano- 
rama of  the  true  Jerusalem  (the  same  all  falling  to 
pieces  Avith  old  age  and  neglect),  a  number  of  little 
houses  and  second-rate  Adllas,  a  fcAv  dusty  studios ; 
this  is  the  furniture  of  the  platform  beneath  Avhich  aU 
Paris  lies  like  a  map. 

Long  may  it  remain  so  untouched.  For  the  hill 
is  now  truly  Parisian.  The  tourist  does  not  hear  of 
it,  even  the  systematic  traveller  avoids  it.  But  it  is 
dear  to  the  student,  and  to  that  ty[)e  in  Avhich  Paris 
is  so  prolific.  1  mean  tiie  careless  and  disreputable 
young  men  who  grow  up  to  be  bourgeois  and  pillars 


14  PARIS. 

of  society.  For  them  the  slopes  of  the  hill  are  al- 
most sacred  ground.  Half  the  nunor  verse  of  Paris 
has  been  born  here,  and  that  other  hill  of  the  Latin 
quarter  has  arranged,  as  it  Avere,  for  its  ])lay-ground 
in  this  forsaken  and  neglected  place.  Paris  inspires 
you  well  as  you  look  down  upon  it  from  such  sur- 
roundings, and  for  one  who  understands  the  race 
there  is  a  peculiar  pleasure  in  noting  that  officialism, 
which  is  one  product  or  rather  aspect  of  the  national 
character,  has  spared  Montmartre  to  the  carelessness 
and  excess  which  is  its  paradoxical  second  half.  Not 
so  long  ago  a  crazy  Avindmill  marked  the  summit. 
It  has  disappeared,  but  it  is  characteristic  of  the  hill 
that  it  should  have  lingered  to  so  late  a  date.  Not 
another  square  yard  of  Paris,  perhaps,  has  been  so 
left  to  chance  as  this  admirable  opportunity  for  the 
interference  of  official  effect. 

Such,  imperfectly  described,  is  Paris  Avhen  you 
see  it  first  from  the  highest  of  the  western  hills.  But 
our  insistence  upon  this  or  that  particular  point  must 
not  misrepresent  to  the  reader  the  general  effect. 
These  domes,  arches,  towers,  spires — even  the  hills, 
are  but  incidents  in  the  vast  plain  of  houses  with 
which  our  summary  began,  and  wliich  is  the  note  of 
the  whole  scene.  What  is  this  plain,  seen  from  Avith- 
in  ?  What  is  the  character  of  its  life,  its  architec- 
ture, its  monuments !  AboA-e  all,  Avhat  surmise 
gradiially  rises  in  us  as  Ave  pass  through  its  streets 


INTRODUCTION.  15 

and  try  to  discover  the  historic  foimdations  upon 
which  all  this  modern  society  rests  ?  To  answer 
these  questions  let  us  go  in  to  the  city  by  one  of  the 
western  gates  and  gain  close  at  hand  an  impression 
of  her  buildings  and  streets. 

This  is  what  you  will  notice  as  you  pass  through 
the  thoroughfares  of  Paris.  Two  kinds  of  streets, 
and,  to  match  them,  two  kinds  of  public  buildings ; 
and  yet  neither  clearly  defined,  but  merging  into  one 
another  in  a  fashion  which,  as  will  be  seen  later, 
gives  the  characteristic  of  continuity  to  the  modern 
toAvn. 

As  an  example  of  the  first,  take  the  Rue  St. 
Honore ;  as  an  example  of  the  second,  its  immediate 
neighbor  the  Boidevard  des  Italians.  The  Rue  St. 
Honore  is  narrow,  paved  Avith  square  stones,  sound- 
ing like  a  gorge  on  the  sea-coast.  Its  houses  are  high, 
and  with  hardly  a  pretence  of  decoration.  Their 
stone  or  plastered  walls  run  grey  and  have  black 
streaks  with  age.  Commonly  an  old  iron  balcony  will 
run  along  one  or  more  of  the  upper  stories.  They 
are  covered  with  green-grey  Mansard  roofs,  high  in 
proportion  to  the  buildings.  From  these  look  the 
small  windows  of  attics,  where,  in  the  time  these 
houses  were  buik,  the  apprentices  and  servants  of 
the  bourgeois  householders  were  lodged.  The  ground 
floor,  as  everywhere  in  Paris,  is  a  line  of  shops.  The 
street  is  not  only  narrow  and  high,  but  sombre  in  ef- 
fect.     Here   and  there   (but   rarely)   an   open  court, 


16  PARIS. 

looking  almost  like  a  well,  lets  in  more  light.  The 
street  is  not  straight,  but  follows  the  curves  of  the  old 
mediaeval  artery  upon  which  it  was  built.  You  would 
look  in  vain  for  the  Gothic  in  such  streets  as  these. 
Even  the  Renaissance  has  hardly  remained.  Their 
churches  and  their  public  buildings  date  from  much 
the  same  time  as  the  houses.  They  are  uniformly 
of  the  seventeenth  or  early  eighteenth  centuries.  It 
was  in  such  surroundings  that  the  grand  siecle  moved, 
and  in  such  hotels  lived  the  dramatists  and  the  orators 
of  the  Augustan  age  of  literature.  These  streets,  all  of 
much  the  same  type,  are  the  old  Paris.  They  are 
least  disturbed,  perhaps,  in  the  Latin  quarter.  They 
are,  of  course,  not  to  be  found  in  all  that  outer  ring 
of  the  city  which  has  been  the  creation  of  our  own 
time,  and  in  fine  they  still  make  up  a  good  propor- 
tion of  the  circle  within  the  boulevards,  which  is  the 
heart  of  Paris.  It  is  in  them  that  you  will  note  the 
famous  sites  of  the  last  two  hundred  years  almost 
unchanged,  and  waiting  under  their  influence  the 
student  can  at  last  reproduce  the  scenes  and  the 
spirit  of  the  Kevolution. 

Whole  sections  of  the  town — the  He  St.  Louis,  for 
example — show  no  architectvire  but  this,  and  the 
high,  sad  houses,  the  narrow,  sombre;  str(!ets,  the  age- 
marked  grey  walls  are  still  the  impression  left  most 
vividly  on  one  Avho  knows  a  little  more  of  ]^aris  than 
the  Grand  Hotel. 

Through  these  old  quarters,  cutting  them  up,  as  it 


INTRODUCTION.  17 

were,  into  isolated  sections,  run  like  a  gigantic  web 
of  straight  lines  the  modern  streets.  The  founda- 
tion of  the  system  is  the  ring  of  internal  boulevards. 
Here  and  there  great  supplementary  avenues  cut 
through  the  heart  of  the  city  within  their  limits,  and 
finally  the  inner  and  the  outer  boulevards  are  similar- 
ly connected  with  a  series  of  broad  streets  lined  with 
trees.  Thus  the  new  Paris  holds  the  old,  as  a  frame- 
work of  timbers  may  hold  an  old  wall,  or  as  the 
veins  of  a  leaf  hold  its  substance. 

And  what  is  to  be  said  of  these  new  streets  and  of 
the  new  quarters  about  the  interior  of  the  city  ?  It 
is  the  fashion  to  belittle  their  effect,  and  more  espe- 
cially do  foreigners,  whose  foreign  pleasures  are  ca- 
tered for  in  the  newest  of  the  new  streets,  compare 
unfavorably  this  modern  Paris  with  the  old.  They 
are  heard  to  regret  the  rookeries  of  the  Boucherie. 
They  would  not  have  the  tower  St.  Jacques  stand 
in  a  public  square,  and  some,  I  dare  say,  have  found 
hard  words  even  for  the  great  space  in  front  of 
Kotre  Dame  and  for  its  statue  of  Charlemagne. 

This  attitude  with  regard  to  the  new  Paris  seems 
to  me  a  fcdse  one.  Certainly  its  architecture  suffers 
from  uniformity.  Light  rather  than  mystery,  comfort 
rather  than  beauty,  has  been  the  object  of  its  design. 
They  are  to  be  regretted,  but  they  are  the  characters 
of  our  generation.  And  Paris  being  a  living  and  a 
young  city,  not  a  thing  for  a  museum,  nor  certainly 
a  place  for  fads  and  make-believes,  it  is  well  that  our 

2 


18  PARIS. 

century  should  confess  itself  even  in  the  Haussman- 
ized  streets,  in  the  wide,  shaded  avenues  of  three  or 
even  five-carriage  roads  side  by  side,  and  the  per- 
petual repetition  of  one  type  of  modern  house. 

Moreover,  Paris  is  here  very  true  to  the  character 
she  has  maintained  in  each  one  of  her  rebuildings. 
She  shows  the  whole  spirit  of  the  time.  If  she  gives 
us,  in  a  certain  monotony  and  scientific  precision  and 
an  over-cleanliness,  the  faults  of  the  new  spirit,  she  cer- 
tainly has  all  its  virtues.  Her  taste  is  excellent.  These 
open  spaces  and  broad  streets  make,  for  the  monu- 
ments, vistas  or  approaches  of  an  admirable  balance. 
You  will  see  them  lead  either  to  the  best  that  is  left 
of  her  past  or  to  the  more  congruous  designs  of  her 
modern  public  buildings,  and  the  effect,  never  sink- 
ing to  the  secondary,  often  rises  to  the  magnificent. 
Take  (for  example)  the  present  treatment  of  the 
Tuileries.  The  Commune  burnt  that  old  palace, 
leaving  the  three  sides  of  the  Louvre  surrounding  a 
gaping  space.  It  has  been  harmonized  Avith  the  Tuile- 
ries gardens  by  planting,  and  the  whole  great  sweep 
d(jwn  from  the  Arc  de  I'Etoile,  though  the  Tuileries 
gardens  to  the  court  of  the  Louvre  is,  as  it  were,  an 
approach  to  the  palace.  The  grandeur  of  that  scene 
has  the  demerit  of  being  obvious,  but  it  has  also  the 
singular  value  of  obtruding  nothing  that  can  offend 
or  distract  the  eye. 

Even  the  Avenue  de  I'Opera,  with  the  huge 
building  at  the  end  of  it,  will  bear  praise.    If  it  lacks 


INTRODUCTION.  19 

meaning  yet  it  does  not  lack  greatness,  and  the  Opera 
itself  has  something  in  it  of  the  fantastic  Avhich 
avoids  the  grotesque.  It  is  a  "  Palais  du  Diabic," 
and  it  is  not  a  little  to  say  for  a  modern  building 
that  it  holds  the  statuary  avcII  and  harmoniously, 
especially  when  there  are  such  groups  in  that  statu- 
ary as  "  La  Danse." 

Moreover,  if  you  will  notice,  Paris  does  not  so  an- 
nounce her  failures ;  no  great  avenue  leads  up  to 
and  frames,  for  instance  the  Trocadero. 

As  to  the  silly  reasoning  that  any  rebuilding  was 
an  error,  it  is  fit  only  for  a  club  of  antiquarians. 
Paris  has  rebuilt  herself  three  separate  times,  and  had 
she  not  done  so  we  should  have  none  of  those  archi- 
tectural glories  which  are  her  pride  to-day.  The 
Revolution  was  not  the  first  profound  change  of  ideas 
that  the  city  experienced.  The  great  awakening 
that  made  the  University  turned  Paris  into  a  Gothic 
city  almost  in  a  generation.  The  "  Grand  Siecle " 
swept  awaj  that  Gothic  city  and  replaced  it  by  the 
tall  houses  that  yet  mark  all  her  older  quarters.  In 
this  last  expansion  Paris  is  but  following  a  well- 
known  road  of  hers,  and  the  people  who  wiU  come 
long  after  us  Avill  find  it  a  good  thing  that  she  did  so. 

This  also  is  to  be  noted:  that  if  Paris  is  somewhat 
negligent  of  what  is  curious,  yet  she  is  careful  of 
what  is  monumental.  As  we  shall  see  in  this  book, 
the  twelfth  and  even  the  sixth  centuries — the  fourth 
also  in  one  spot — come  against  one  in  the  midst  of  a 


20  PAEIS. 

modern  street.  Much  that  has  been  destroyed  was 
not  destroyed  by  the  iconoclasm  of  the  nineteenth, 
but  by  the  sheer  lack  of  taste  of  the  eighteenth  cen- 
tury— a  time  that  coukl  add  the  horrible  false-Renais- 
sance portico  to  the  exquisite  Cathedral  of  Metz  and 
that  was  capable  of  the  Pantheon,  pulled  down  without 
mercy.     We  suffer  from  it  yet. 

There  is  one  feature  Avhich  is  perhaps  not  over- 
obvious  in  the  buildings  of  Paris  and  which  it  is  well 
to  point  out  in  this  connection,  especially  as  it  is  the 
modern  parallel  of  a  spirit  which  we  shall  hnd  in  all 
the  history  of  the  town.  I  mean  a  remarkable  his- 
torical continuity. 

Paris  to  the  stranger  is  new.  Or  at  least  where  it 
evidently  dates  from  the  last  or  even  from  the  seven- 
teenth century,  it  yet  seems  poor  in  those  groups  of 
the  middle  ages  which  are  the  characteristic  of  so 
many  European  towns,  and  one  would  say  at  first 
sight  that  it  was  entirely  lacking  in  many  relics  of 
still  earlier  times.  This  impression  is  erroneous,  not 
only  as  to  the  actual  buildings  of  the  city,  but  espe- 
cially as  to  its  history  and  spirit.  But  it  is  not  with- 
out an  ample  excuse.  There  is  nothing  in  Paris  so 
old  but  that  its  surroundings  give  it  a  false  aspect  of 
modernity,  nor  is  there  any  monument  so  venerable 
but  that  some  part  of  it  (often  some  part  connected 
with  the  identity  of  the  main  building)  dates  from 
our  own  time. 

The  reason  for  this  is  twofold.      First,  Paris  has 


INTRODUCTION.  21 

never  been  checked  in  its  development.  You  find 
no  relics  because  it  has  never  felt  old  age,  and  that 
species  of  forgetfulness  which  is  necessary  to  the 
preservation  of  old  things  untouched  has  never  fallen 
upon  her.  For,  if  you  will  consider,  it  is  never  the 
period  just  past  which  we  revere  and  with  which  we 
forbear  to  meddle  ;  it  is  always  something  separated 
by  a  century  at  least  from  our  own  time.  It  needs, 
therefore,  for  the  growth  of  ruins,  and  even  for  the 
preservation  of  old  things  absolutely  unchanged,  a 
certain  period  of  indiiference  in  which  they  are 
neither  repaired  nor  pulled  down,  but  merely  neg- 
lected. Thus  we  owe  Roman  ruins  to  the  dark  ages, 
much  of  the  English  Gothic  to  the  indifference  of  the 
seventeenth  and  eighteenth  centuries.  Such  periods 
of  indifference  Paris  has  never  experienced.  Each 
age  in  her  history,  at  least  for  the  last  six  hundred 
years,  has  been  "modern,"  has  thought  itself  excel- 
lent, has  designed  in  its  own  fashion.  And  on  this 
account  the  conductor  of  Cook's  tourists  can  find  in 
the  whole  place  but  little  matter  for  that  phrase  so 
dear  to  his  flock  :  "It  might  have  stepped  out  of  the 
middle  ages." 

Secondly,  Her  buildings  are  at  the  present  mo- 
ment, and  have  been  from  the  time  of  the  Revolution, 
kept  to  a  use,  repaired  and  made  to  enter  into  the 
present  life  of  the  city.  The  modern  era  in  Paris 
has  had  no  sympathy  with  that  point  of  view  so  com- 
mon  in   Europe,   which   would  have  a  church   or  a 


22  PARIS. 

palace  suffer  no  sacrilegious  hand,  but  remain  a  kind  of 
sacred  toy,  until  it  positively  falls  with  old  age,  and 
has  to  be  rebuilt  entirely.  The  misfortune  (for  ex- 
ample) which  gives  us  in  Oxford  the  monstrosity 
of  BaUiol  new  buildings  in  the  place  of  the  exquis- 
ite fourteenth  century  architecture  of  which  one 
corner  yet  remains  to  shame  us ;  or,  again,  the  condi- 
tion of  the  west  front  of  Peterborough  Cathedral, 
which  (apparently)  must  either  be  rebuilt  or  allowed 
to  fall  down — such  accidents  to  the  monuments  of 
the  past  Paris  has  carefidly  avoided.  She  was 
taught  the  necessity  of  this  by  the  eighteenth  cen- 
tury conservatism,- and  if  she  is  too  continually  re- 
pairing and  replacing,  it  is  a  reaction  from  a  time 
when  the  stones  of  the  capital,  like  the  institutions  of 
the  state,  had  been  permitted  to  rot  in  decay. 

There  are  one  or  two  points  of  view  in  Paris  from 
which  this  character  is  especially  notable.  We  shall 
see  it  best,  of  course,  where  the  oldest  monuments 
naturally  remain, — I  mean  in  the  oldest  quarter  of 
the  city.  Stand  on  the  northern  quay  that  faces  the 
Conciergerie  and  the  Palais  de  Justice,  and  look  at 
their  walls  as  they  rise  above  the  opposite  bank  of 
the  stream.  What  part  of  this  is  old  and  Avhat  new? 
Unacquainted  with  the  nature  of  the  city,  it  would 
be  impossible  to  reply.  That  Gothic  archway  might 
have  been  pierced  in  this  century;  the  clock-tower, 
with  its  fresh  paint  and  the  carefully  repaired  mould- 
ings on  its  corners,  might  be  fifty  years  old.     Those 


INTRODUCTION.  23 

twin  towers  of  the  Conciergerie  might  be  of  any  age, 
for  all  the  signs  they  give  of  it.  Part  of  that  build- 
ing was  destroyed  in  the  Comraime,  and  has  been 
rebuilt.  Which  part  ?  There  is  nothing  to  tell.  It 
is  only  when  we  know  that  it  is  against  the  whole 
genius  of  the  people  to  imitate  the  styles  of  a  dead 
age, — when  we  are  told  (for  example)  that  such  things 
as  "  the  Gothic  Revival,"  under  which  we  groan  in 
England  to-day,  and  which  is  the  curse  of  Oxford 
and  Hampstead,  has  not  touched  Paris, — it  is  only 
when  we  appreciate  that  the  French  either  create  or 
restore,  but  never  copy,  that  we  can  see  hoAv  great  a 
work  has  been  done  on  this  one  building. 

The  wall  and  the  towers  before  you  are  not  a 
curiosity  or  a  show;  decay  has  not  been  permitted  to 
touch  them  ;  they  are  in  actual  service  to-day  in  the 
working  of  the  law-courts.  Yet  that  corner  clock- 
tower  was  the  delight  of  Philippe  le  Bel.  It  was 
Philippe  the  Conqueror  who  built  those  two  towers, 
with  their  conical  roofs,  and  from  one  of  their  windows 
he  would  sit  looking  at  the  Seine  flowing  by,  as  his 
biographer  describes  him  ;  through  that  pointed  arch- 
way St.  Louis  went  daily  to  hear  the  pleas  in  the 
Palace  gardens ;  from  such  and  such  a  window  the 
last  defense  of  Danton  was  caught  by  the  mob  that 
stretched  along  the  quay  and  over  the  Pont  Neuf. 

Or,  again,  take  a  contrasting  case — one  where  a 
spectator  would  believe  all  to  be  old,  and  yet  where 
the  moderns  have  restored  and  strengthened.     As  you 


24  PAKIS. 

stand  on  the  quays  that  flank  the  Latin  quarter  and 
look  northward  to  the  Island  and  the  Avhole  southern 
side  of  Notre  Dame,  it  is  not  only  the  thirteenth  cen- 
tury at  which  you  gaze  ;  at  point  upon  point  VioUet  le 
Due  rebuilt  and  refaced  many  of  the  stories — some, 
even,  of  the  carvings  are  his  Avork ;  yet  you  could 
never  distinguish  in  it  all  what  aid  the  present  time 
had  given  to  the  work  of  St.  Louis. 

As  for  the  Sainte  Chapelle,  it  is  at  this  day  so 
exactly  what  it  Avas  when  St.  Louis  first  heard  Mass 
in  it, — and  that  has  been  done  at  the  expense  of  so 
much  blue  and  gold,  just  such  color  as  he  used, — that 
the  traveller  will  turn  from  it  under  the  impression 
that  he  is  suffering  at  the  hands  of  the  third  Republic, 
and  will  say,  ^^How  gaudy!"  It  is  only  when  you 
note  that  the  stained  glass  is  the  gaudiest  thing  in 
the  place  that  you  begin  to  feel  that  here  alone,  per- 
haps, in  Europe,  the  men  who  designed  the  early 
Gothic  Avould  feel  at  home. 

And  if  this  continuity  in  her  buildings  is  so  striking 
a  mark  of  modern  Paris,  and  goes  so  far  to  explain 
her  newness,  you  will  find  something  yet  more  re- 
markable in  the  preservation  of  her  sites.  To  take 
but  three.  The  place  of  the  administration,  of  the 
central  worship  and  of  the  markets  are  as  old  as  the 
Roman  occupation.  The  Louvre  has  grown  steadily 
from  similar  use  to  similar  use  through  more  than  a 
thousand  years ;  the  Hotel  de  Ville,  through  more 
than  seven  hundred.     And  a  man  may  go  over  the 


INTRODUCTION.  25 

Petit  Pont  from  the  sovithern  bank,  cross  the  Island, 
and  come  over  to  the  northern  side  by  the  Pont  Notre 
Dame,  and  be  following  step  by  step  the  road  that  so 
spanned  the  two  branches  of  the  stream  centuries  and 
centuries  ago, — not  the  road  of  Roman  times,  but  one 
earlier  yet, — back  in  the  yague  time  when  the  Cite 
was  a  group  of  round  Gaidish  huts,  and  Avhen  two 
rough  wooden  bridges  led  the  traveller  across  the 
Seine  on  his  way  to  the  sea-coast. 

And  this  continuity  in  buildings  and  in  places  is 
matched  by  one  spirit  running  all  through  the  action 
of  Paris  for  fifteen  hundred  years.  This  is  the  lixed 
interest  of  her  history,  and  it  is  this  which  so  many 
men  have  felt  who  in  the  studios,  or  up  on  the  hill  of 
the  University,  though  they  had  learned  nothing  of 
the  past  of  the  city,  yet  feel  about  them  a  secular 
experience  and  a  troubhng  message  difficult  to  under- 
stand— that  seems  to  sum  up  in  a  confused  sound  the 
long  changes  of  Christendom  and  of  the  West. 

Well,  what  is  the  peculiar  spirit,  the  historical 
meaning,  of  the  town  whose  outer  aspect  we  have 
hitherto  been  describing?  No  history  can  have 
value — it  would  perhaps  be  truer  to  say  that  no  his- 
tory can  exist  unless  while  it  describes  it  also  explains. 
Here  we  will  have  to  deal  Avith  a  city  many  of  whose 
actions  have  been  unicpie,  much  of  whose  life  has 
been  dismissed  in  phrases  of  wonder,  of  fear,  or  of 
efpuilly  impotent  anger.     If  this   is  all  that  a  book 


26  PAEIS. 

can  do  for  Paris,  it  had  better  not  have  been  written. 
To  stand  aghast  at  her  excesses,  to  lift  up  the  hands 
at  her  audacity,  or  to  lose  control  over  one's  pen  in 
expressing  abhorrence  for  her  success,  is  to  do  what 
any  scholar  might  accomplish,  but  it  would  be  to  fail 
as  an  historian.  Why  has  Paris  so  acted  ?  The 
answer  to  that  question,  and  a  sufficient  answer,  alone 
can  give  such  a  story  value.  AVhat  is  her  nature? 
What  is,  if  we  may  use  a  term  properly  applicable 
only  to  human  beings,  her  mind  ? 

You  will  not  perceive  the  drift  towards  the  true 
reply  by  following  any  of  those  laborious  methods 
which  stultify  so  much  of  modern  analysis.  You  Avill 
not  interpret  Paris  by  any  examination  of  her  physi- 
cal environment,  nor  comprehend  her  by  one  of  those 
cheap  racial  generalizations  that  are  the  bane  of 
popular  study.  In  all  the  great  truths  spoken  by 
Michelet,  one  is  perhaps  pre-eminent,  because  it 
seems  to  include  all  the  others.  He  says :  "  La 
France  a  fait  la  France  ;"  and  if  this  be  true  (as  it 
is)  of  the  nation,  it  is  more  especially  true  of  the 
town.  There  is  within  the  lives  of  individuals — as 
we  know  by  experience — a  something  formative  that 
helps  to  build  up  the  whole  man  and  that  has  a 
share  in  the  result  quite  as  large  as  the  grosser  part 
for  which  science  can  account.  So  it  is  with  states, 
and  so,  sometimes,  with  cities.  A  destiny  runs 
through  their  development  which  is  allied  in  nature 
to  the  human  soul,  and  which  material  circumstance 


INTRODUCTION.  27 

may  bound  or   may  modify,  but  which  certainly  it 
cannot  originate. 

In  the  first  place  Paris  is,  and  has  known  itself  to 
be,  the  city-state  of  modern  Europe.  What  is  the 
importance  of  that  character?  Why  that  certain 
habits  of  thought,  certain  results  in  politics  which  we 
can  observe  in  the  history  of  antiquity,  are  to  be 
noted  repeating  themselves  in  the  actions  and  in  the 
opinions  of  Paris.  It  is  a  phenomenon  strange  to  the 
industrial  nations  of  to-day  yet  one  with  which  society 
will  always  have  to  deal,  perhaps  at  bottom  the  most 
durable  thing  of  all,  that  men  wiU  associate  and  act 
by  neighborhood  rather  than  by  political  definitions. 
And  this  influence  of  neighborhood,  which  (with  the 
single  important  exception  of  tribal  society)  is  the 
greatest  factor  in  social  history,  has  formed  the  vil- 
lage community  and  the  walled  town  whose  contrast 
and  whose  coexistence  are  almost  the  whole  history 
of  Europe.  WTien  great  Empires  arise,  a  fictitious 
veil  is  thrown  over  these  radical  things.  Men  are 
attached  to  a  wide  and  general  patriotism  covering 
hundreds  of  leagues,  and  even  in  the  last  stages  of 
decay  and  just  before  the  final  cataclysm.  Rhetoricians 
love  to  talk  of  a  federation  of  all  peoples,  and  mer- 
chants ardently  describe  the  advent  of  a  universal 
peace.  But  even  in  such  exceptional  periods  in  the 
history  of  mankind,  the  village  community  and  its 
parallel  the  city  are  the  real  facts  in  political  life ;  and 
when,  in  the  inevitable  fall  and  the  subsequent  recon- 


28  PAKIS. 

struction  of  society,  the  fictions  are  destroyed  and  the 
phrases  lose  themselves  in  realities,  these  fundamen- 
tal and  original  units  re-emerge  in  all  their  rugged- 
ness  and  strength. 

Upon  the  recognition  of  such  units  the  healthy  life 
of  the  middle  ages  reposed ;  in  the  satisfactory  and 
human  conditions  of  such  societies  the  arts  and  the 
enthusiasms  of  Greece  took  life.  It  is  in  the  autono- 
mous cities  of  Italy  that  our  civilization  reappeared, 
and  the  aristocratic  conceptions  upon  which  the  social 
order  of  Europe  is  stiU  founded  sprang  from  the  isola- 
tion and  local  politics  of  the  manor. 

In  a  time  when  the  facility  of  communication  has 
been  so  greatly  augmented,  and  when  therefore  the 
larger  units  of  political  society  should  be  at  their 
strongest,  Paris  proves  to  the  modern  world  how  en- 
during the  vdtimate  instincts  of  our  pohtical  nature 
may  be. 

The  unit  that  can  practically  see,  understand  and 
act  at  once  and  together  5  the  "  city  that  hears  the 
voice  of  one  herald,"  is  living  there  in  the  midst  of 
modern  Europe.  By  a  paradox  which  is  but  one  of 
many  in  French  politics,  the  centre  which  first  gave 
out  to  other  societies  the  creed  of  the  large  self-gov- 
erning state,  the  power  whence  radiated  the  enthu- 
siasm even  for  a  federal  humanity,  "  the  capital  of 
the  Republic  of  mankind  "  from  which  poor  Clootz, 
the  amiable  but  mad  German  Baron,  dated  his  corres- 
pondence— this  very  town  is   itself  an   example  of 


INTKODUCTION.  29 

an  intense  local  patriotism,  peculiar,  narrow  and 
exclusive. 

Paris  acts  together,  its  citizens  think  of  it  perpetu- 
ally as  of  a  kind  of  native  country,  and  it  has  estab- 
lished for  itself  a  definition  which  makes  it  the  brain 
of  that  great  sluggish  body,  the  peasantry  of  France. 
In  that  definition  the  bulk  of  the  nation  has  for  cen- 
turies aquiesced,  and  the  birthplace  of  government  by 
majority  is  also  the  spot  where  distinction  of  political 
quality  and  the  right  of  the  head  to  ride  all  the  mem- 
bers is  most  imperiously  asserted. 

It  is  from  this  standpoint  that  so  much  of  her  his- 
tory assumes  perspective.  By  recognizing  this  feat- 
ure the  chaos  of  a  hundred  revolts  assumes  historical 
order.  You  will  perceive  from  it  the  Parisian  mob, 
with  all  the  faults  of  a  mob,  yet  organizing,  creat- 
ing and  succeeding ;  you  will  learn  why  an  ap- 
parently causeless  outburst  of  anger  has  been  fruitful, 
and  why  so  much  violence  and  so  much  disturbance 
should  have  aided  rather  than  retarded  the  devel- 
opment of  France. 

It  is  as  the  city-state  (and  the  metropolis  at  that) 
that  Paris  has  been  the  self-appointed  guardian  of  the 
French  idea.  Throughout  the  middle  ages  you  will 
see  her  anxious  with  a  kind  of  prevision  to  safe- 
guard the  unity  of  the  nation.  For  this  she  watches 
the  diplomacy  of  the  Capetians  and  fights  upon  their 
side,  for  this  she  ceaselessly  stands  watch  Avith  the 
King  over  feudalism  and  doubles  his  strength  in  every 


30  PARIS. 

blow  that  is  dealt  against  the  nobles.  It  is  this  feat- 
ure that  explains  her  attitude  as  the  ally  of  Philip 
the  Conqueror,  her  leaning  later  on  the  Burgundian 
house,  her  hatred  of  the  southerner  in  the  person  of 
the  Armagnac. 

You  will  find  it,  without  interruption,  guiding  her 
conduct  in  the  history  which  links  the  middle  ages 
to  our  own  time.  She  is  the  faithful  servant  of 
Louis  XI. ;  she  is  the  bitter  fanatic  for  religious  unity 
in  the  religious  wars.  Thus  you  see  her  withstand- 
ing Henry  IV.  to  the  last  point  of  starvation,  and 
thus  a  popidation,  careless  of  religion,  yet  forces  a 
religious  formula  upon  the  Huguenot  leader ;  and 
when  the  first  Bourbon  accepted  the  mass  with  a  jest, 
it  Avas  Paris  which  had  exacted,  even  from  a  con- 
queror, the  pledge  of  keeping  the  nation  one. 

In  the  Revolution  all  this  character  appears  in 
especial  relief.  She  claims  to  think  for  and  to  govern 
France ;  she  asserts  the  right  by  her  energy  and 
initiative  to  defend  the  whole  people  and  their  new 
institutions  from  the  invader,  and  she  ratifies  that 
assertion  by  success.  With  this  leading  thought 
she  first  captures,  then  imprisons  and  finally  over- 
throws the  King ;  lays  (on  the  2d  of  June)  violent 
hands  upon  the  Parliament,  directs  the  terror,  and 
then,  when  her  system  is  no  longer  needed,  per- 
mits in  Thermidor  the  overthrow  of  her  own  spokes- 
man. 

If   the   condition   of    the   city   is    considered,   the 


INTKODUCTION.  31 

causes  of  this  strong  local  unity  will  become  ap- 
parent. Paris  is  a  microcosm.  She  contains  all  the 
parts  proper  to  a  little  nation,  and  by  the  reaction  of 
her  own  attitude  this  complete  character  is  intensi- 
fied ;  for  since  she  is  the  head  of  a  highly  organized 
state  all  is  to  be  found  there.  Here  is  at  once  the 
national  and  the  urban  government ;  the  schools  for 
every  branch  of  technical  training.  Here  is  the 
centre  of  the  arts — not  by  a  kind  of  accident  such  as 
will  make  the  London  artists  live  in  Fitz-Johns  Ave- 
nue, nor  by  the  natural  attraction  of  the  great  schools 
of  the  past,  nor  through  peculiar  collections  such  as 
cause  the  congeries  at  Munich,  at  Venice,  or  at  Flor- 
ence or  at  Rome,  but  by  a  deliberate  purpose :  by 
the  placing  within  the  walls  of  the  city  of  all  the 
best  teaching  that  the  concentrated  effort  of  the 
nation  can  secure. 

Within  her  walls  are  all  the  opposing  factors  of 
a  vigorous  life.  She  is  not  wholly  student  nor  wholly 
industrial  nor  wholly  mercantile,  but  something  of  all 
three.  Even  the  noble  is  present  to  add  his  little 
different  note  to  the  harmonious  discord  of  competing 
interests ;  and,  alone  of  the  great  capitals  of  the 
world,  she  is  the  seat  of  the  old  University  of  the 
nation.  Here,  running  wild  through  a  whole  quarter 
of  the  city,  is  that  vigorous  youth,  undiscoverable  in 
London  or  in  Berlin  ;  I  mean  the  follies,  the  loves 
and  the  generous  ideals  of  the  students.  They  keep 
it  fresh  with  a  laughter  that  is  lacking  in  the  cen- 


32  PAEIS. 

tres  of  the  modern  world,  and  they  supply  it  with  a 
frank  criticism  bordering  on  intellectual  revolt,  which 
the  self-satisfaction  of  less  fortunate  capitals,  mere 
seaports,  or  simple  military  centres,  fatally  ignores. 
They,  from  their  high  attic  windows  on  the  Hill,  in- 
terpret her  horizons  ;  and,  as  they  grow  to  fill  the 
ranks  of  her  art  and  science,  help  to  keep  the  city 
worthy  of  the  impressions  with  which  she  delighted 
their  twentieth  year. 

And  Paris  has  also  the  last  necessary  quality  for 
the  formation  of  a  city-state.  I  mean  that  her  stories 
are  so  many  memories  of  action  which  she  has  un- 
dertaken unaided,  and  that  her  view  of  the  past  is 
one  in  which  she  continually  stands  alone.  It  is  a 
record  of  great  sieges,  in  which  no  outer  help  availed 
her,  and  in  which  she  fell  through  isolation  or  suc- 
ceeded by  her  own  powers.  More  than  one  of  her 
monuments  is  a  record  of  action  that  she  undertook 
before  the  nation  which  depends  upon  her  was  willing 
to  move  5  and  she  records  herself,  from  the  Column 
of  July  to  the  Arsenal  of  the  Invalides,  the  successful 
leader  in  movements  that  the  general  people  applauded 
but  could  not  design. 

Her  history  has  finally  produced  in  her  what  was 
in  the  middle  ages  but  a  promise  or  perhaps  a  thing 
in  germ, — I  mean  the  sentiment  and  the  expression  of 
individuality.  The  story  of  her  growth  from  the  dim 
origins  of  her  political  position  under  the  early  Cape- 
tians,  through  the  episode  of  Etienne  Marcel  to  the 


INTEODUCTION.  33 

definite  action  of  the  seventeenth  century  and  finally 
of  the  Revolution,  is  the  story  of  a  personality  grow- 
ing from  mere  sensation  to  self-recognition,  and  to 
functions  determinate  and  understood.  It  is  a  transi- 
tion from  instinct  to  reason,  and  at  its  close  you  have, 
as  was  expressed  at  the  opening  of  this  chapter,  a 
true  and  living  unit,  not  in  metaphor  but  in  fact, 
with  a  memory,  a  will,  a  voice,  and  an  expression  of 
its  own. 

Such  is  the  first  great  mark  of  Paris,  and  with  that 
clue  alone  in  one's  hand  the  maze  is  almost  solved. 

But,  if  Paris  has  these  characteristics  of  continuity 
and  of  being  the  city-state,  she  has  also  a  third, 
Avhich,  Avhile  it  is  less  noticeable  to  her  own  citizens, 
is  yet  more  interesting  to  the  foreigner  than  the  other 
two.  She  is  the  typical  city,  at  least  of  the  western 
civilization, — I  mean,  her  history  at  any  moment  is 
always  a  reflection  peculiarly  vivid  of  the  spirit 
which  runs  through  western  Europe  at  the  time.  To 
say  that  she  leads  and  originates,  which  is  a  common- 
place with  her  historians,  is  not  strictly  true;  it  is 
more  accurate  to  say  that  she  mirrors.  It  cannot  be 
denied  that  her  action  at  such  and  such  a  crisis  has 
differed  from  the  general  action  of  the  European 
cities ;  nor  can  it  be  forgotten  that  her  course  has 
more  than  once  produced  a  sense  of  sharp  and  some- 
times painful  contrast  in  the  minds  of  her  neighbors. 
Paris  has  not  been  typical  in  the  sense  of  being  the 
average.     That   character   would    have   produced    a 


34  PAEIS. 

history  devoid  of  features,  whereas  all  the  Avorld 
knows  that  the  history  of  Paris  is  a  series  of  strong 
pictures  too  often  overdrawn.  If  she  has  been  the 
typical  city  of  the  west,  it  is  rather  in  this  sense, 
that  on  her  have  been  focussed  the  various  rays  of 
European  energy  ;  that  she  has  been  the  stage  upon 
which  the  contemporary  emotions  of  Europe  have 
been  given  their  Persona',  through  whose  lips  they 
found  expression;  that  she  has  time  and  time  again 
been  the  laboratory  wherein  the  problems  that  per- 
plexed our  civilization  have  always  been  analyzed  and 
sometimes  solved. 

It  may  be  urged  that  every  city  partakes  of  this 
character,  and  that  the  civilization  which  has  grown 
up  upon  the  ruins  of  Rome  is  so  much  of  a  unity  that 
its  principal  cities  have  always  reflected  the  spirit  of 
their  time.  This  is  true.  But  Paris  has  reflected 
that  spirit  with  a  peculiar  fidelity.  While  it  has,  of 
course,  been  filled  with  her  own  strong  bias  of  race 
and  of  local  character,  yet  her  treatment  of  this  or 
that  time  has  been  remarkable  for  proportion;  you 
feel,  in  reading  of  her  past  action,  that  not  the  north 
or  the  south,  not  this  people  or  that,  but  all  Europe  is 
(so  to  speak)  being  "  played"  before  your  eyes.  The 
actors  are  French  and,  commonly,  Parisian ;  the  lan- 
guage they  speak  is  strange  and  the  action  local,  yet 
the  subject-matter  is  something  which  concerns  the 
whole  of  our  world,  and  the  place  given  to  each  part 
of  the  movement  is  that  which,  on  looking  over  the 


INTRODUCTION.  35 

surrounding  nations,  we  should  assign  to  it  were  we 
charged  with  drawing  up  an  accurate  balance  of  the 
time. 

Before  pointing  out  the  historical  examples  which 
show  hoAV  constantly  Paris  has  been  destined  to  play 
this  international  role,  it  is  well  to  appreciate  the  causes 
of  such  a  position.  First  among  these  comes  the 
feature  which  has  been  discussed  above.  The  fact 
that  she  contains  within  her  walls  all  the  parts  of  a 
state  fits  her  for  the  character  of  representative,  and 
makes  her  action  more  complete  than  is  the  case  with 
another  European  city.  The  interests  of  exchange 
and  of  commerce,  of  finance  (which  in  this  age  may 
almost  be  called  a  separate  thing) ;  the  struggle  be- 
tween the  proletariat  and  capital ;  the  unsatisfied 
quarrel  between  dogmatic  authority  and  the  inductive 
method;  militarism,  and  the  reaction  it  creates;  even 
the  direction  which  literature  and  discussion  may 
give  to  these  energies, — all  these  are  found  within 
the  city,  and  the  general  result  is  a  picture  of  Europe. 
But  this  quality  of  hers  is  not  the  only  cause  of  her 
typical  character.  Geographical  position  explains 
not  a  little  of  its  origin.  She  is  of  Latin  origin  and 
of  Latin  tradition  ;  her  law  and  much  of  her  social 
custom  is  an  inheritance  from  Rome,  yet  the  basis  of 
the  race  is  not  Latin,  and  among  those  in  the  studios 
who  almost  reproduce  the  Greek,  there  is  hardly  a 
southern  face  to  be  found.  Her  lawyers  and  orators 
will  model  themselves  upon  Latin  phrases,  but  you 


36  PARIS. 

would  not  match  their  expression  among  the  Roman 
busts ;  and  it  has  been  truly  said  that  the  Italian  pro- 
file was  more  often  met  with  in  England  than  in 
northern  France.  Even  the  insular  civilization  of 
England,  Avhich  has  had  so  great  an  effect  upon  the 
politics,  if  not  the  society,  of  the  world,  is  to  be  found 
strongly  represented  in  this  medley.  For  England 
looks  south  (or,  at  least,  the  England  which  once 
possessed  so  great  an  influence  did  so),  and  Paris  is 
the  centre  of  those  northern  provinces  upon  Avhom 
the  British  influence  has  been  strong.  Though  this 
part  of  her  thought  is  of  less  importance  than  some 
others,  yet  it  is  worth  carefully  noting,  for  it  has  been 
neglected  to  a  remarkable  degree.  It  is  from  this 
that  you  obtain  in  Parisian  history  the  attempts  at  a 
democracy  based  upon  representation  ;  it  is  from  this, 
again,  that  the  principal  modern  changes  in  her  judi- 
cial methods  are  drawn ;  and  so  curiously  strong  has 
been  the  attraction  of  English  systems  for  a  certain 
kind  of  mind  in  Paris,  that  even  the  experiment  of 
aristocracy  and  of  its  mask — a  limited  monarchy — has 
been  tried  in  these  uncongenial  surroundings.  The 
greatest  of  the  men  of  '93  regret  the  English  alliance. 
Mirabeau  bases  half  his  public  action  upon  his  mem- 
ories of  the  English  wldgs.  Lamartine  delights  in 
calling  England  the  Marvellous  Island.    • 

And,  if  we  go  a  little  deeper  than  historical  facts 
and  examine  those  subtle  influences  of  climatic  con- 
dition (which,  as  they  are  more  mysterious,  are  also 


INTRODUCTION.  37 

of  greater  import  than  obvious  things),  we  shall  find 
Paris  balanced  between  the  two  great  zones  of 
Europe.  It  is  hard  to  say  Avhether  she  is  within  or 
without  the  belt  of  vineyards  ;  a  little  way  to  the 
south  and  to  the  east  you  find  the  grapes ;  a  little 
way  to  the  north  and  west,  to  drink  wine  is  a  luxury, 
and  the  peasants  think  it  a  mark  of  the  southerner. 
There  are  days  in  Chevreuse,  in  the  summer,  when  a 
man  might  believe  himself  to  be  in  a  Mediterranean 
valley,  and,  again,  the  autumn  and  the  winter  of  the 
great  forest  of  Marly  are  impressions  purely  of  the 
north.  The  Seine  is  a  river  that  has  time  and  again 
frozen  over,  and  the  city  itself  is  continually  silent  un- 
der heavy  falls  of  snow.  Yet  she  has  half  the  custom 
of  the  south,  her  life  is  in  the  open  air,  her  houses  are 
designed  for  warmth  and  for  sunlight;  she  has  the 
gesture  and  the  rapidity  of  a  warmer  climate. 

For  one  period  of  her  history  you  might  have 
called  her  a  great  northern  city,  when  she  was  all 
Gothic  and  deeply  carved,  suited  to  long  winter 
nights  and  to  weak  daylight.  But  in  the  course  of 
time  she  has  seemed  partly  to  regain  the  traditions 
of  the  Mediterranean,  so  that  you  have  shallow 
mouldings,  white  stone  and  open  streets,  standing 
most  often  under  a  grey  sky,  which  should  rather 
demand  pointed  gables  and  old  deep  thoroughfares. 
The  truth  is  that  she  is  neither  northern  nor  southern, 
but,  in  either  climate  (they  meet  in  her  latitude)  aii 
exile,  satisfying  neither,  and  yet  containing  both  of 


38  PAKIS. 

the  ends  between  which  Europe  swmgs ;  so  that,  in 
all  that  is  done  within  Paris,  you  are  at  a  loss  whether 
to  look  for  influence  coming  up  from  the  Mediter- 
ranean, or  to  listen  for  the  steep  waves  and  heavy 
sweeping  tides  of  the  Channel  and  the  North  Sea. 
Only  with  one  part  of  Europe — a  part  which  may 
later  transform  or  destroy  the  west — she  has  no  sym- 
pathy,— I  mean  that  which  lies  to  the  east  of  the 
Elbe.  She  was  a  town  of  the  Empire,  and  the  darker 
and  newer  part  of  Europe  is  as  much  a  mystery  to 
her  as  to  the  nations  which  are  her  neighbors. 

If  you  will  notice  her  first  prominence,  you  will 
discover  that  Paris  rises  upon  Europe  just  where  the 
modern  period  begins.  It  is  as  a  town  of  the  lower 
Empire,  of  the  decline,  of  the  barbarian  invasions,  of 
the  advent  of  Christianity.  Paris  first  becomes  a  great 
city  just  as  the  civilization  to  which  we  belong  starts 
out  upon  its  adventures,  and  her  history  at  once 
assumes  that  character  upon  which  these  paragraphs 
insist.  She  receives  the  barbarian;  the  mingled 
language  is  talked  in  her  streets;  her  palace  is  the 
centre  of  the  Teutonic  monarchy,  which  has  carved 
its  province  from  the  Empire;  of  the  two  extremes, 
she  seems  to  combine  either  experience.  She  does 
not  lose  her  language  (like  the  Rhine  valley),  nor  her 
religion  and  customs  (like  Britain);  but,  on  the  other 
hand,  she  is  strongly  influenced  by  the  conquest,  and 
knows  nothing  of  that  lingering  Roman  civilization, 
almost  untouched  by  the  invader,  which  left  to  Nimes, 


INTEODUCTION.  39 

Aries  and  the  southern  cities  a  municipal  organization 
lasting  to  our  own  day.  At  the  outset  of  her  history 
she  includes  the  experience  of  the  south  and  of  the 
north . 

During  the  Carlovingian  epoch  she  loses  her  place 
for  a  time ;  but,  with  the  rise  of  the  nationalities  that 
followed  it,  and  Avith  the  invasions,  she  is  not  only 
intimately  concerned  but  again  furnishes  the  example 
of  which  we  have  been  speaking.  She  sustains  siege 
after  siege  ;  like  the  Europe  of  which  she  is  the  type, 
she  finally,  but  Avith  great  pain,  beats  off  the  pirates,  and 
in  her  Avails  rises  the  first  and  Avhat  is  destined  to  be 
the  most  complete  type  of  the  national  kingships.  The 
Robertian  House  Avas  neither  feudal  nor  a  reminis- 
cence of  imperial  power ;  it  was  a  mixture  of  both 
those  elements.  It  was  founded  by  a  local  leader  Avho 
had  defended  his  subjects  in  the  "  dark  century,"  and 
in  so  much  it  attaches  closely  to  the  feudal  character ; 
on  the  other  hand,  its  members  are  consecrated  kings ; 
they  have  the  aim  of  a  united  and  centraHzed  power, 
and  in  this  they  hold  even  more  than  do  the  Ottos  to 
the  Imperial  memory. 

Note  hoAA^,  as  Europe  develops,  the  experience  of 
Paris  sums  up  that  of  the  surrounding  peoples.  The 
Roman  laAV  finds  her  an  eager  listener,  but  it  does 
not  produce  in  her  case  the  rapid  effect  Avhich  you 
may  notice  in  some  of  the  Italian  cities.  Custom 
weighs  hard  in  the  northern  tOAvn,  and  Philip  Au- 
gustus, after  all  his  conquests,  could  never  hear  the 


40  PAKIS. 

language  which  the  professors  of  Bologna  used  to 
Barbarossa  just  before  his  defeat.  On  the  other 
hand,  the  power  of  the  king  which  that  law  was  such 
a  powerful  agent  to  increase,  was  not  destined  to 
suffer  from  repeated  reaction  as  it  did  in  England, 
and  the  kings  of  Paris  never  fell  beneath  a  direct 
victory  of  aristoci'acy  such  as  that  which  crushed 
John  at  Runnymede,  and  centuries  later  destroyed 
the  Stuarts. 

The  struggle  between  government  and  feudalism 
was  destined  to  last  much  longer  in  France  than  it 
did  in  the  neighboring  countries,  and  as  it  goes  on, 
Paris  sees  all  its  principal  features,  and  the  cro^vn 
finally  triumphs  only  in  that  same  generation  of  the 
seventeenth  century  which  saw  the  complete  success 
of  the  aristocracy  in  England  and  in  the  Empire. 

In  the  religious  world  the  experience  of  Paris  has 
been  equally  typical.  She  heard  the  first  changes 
of  the  twelfth  century  ;  the  schoolmen  discussed  in 
her  University  ;  Thomas  Aquinas  sat  at  table  with 
her  king.  When  the  sixteenth  century  shook  and 
split  the  unity  of  Christendom,  its  treble  aspect  was 
vividly  reflected  in  Paris.  The  evangelical,  the 
Catholic  and  the  Humanist  are  represented  distinctly 
and  in  profusion  there  ;  for  it  is  in  Paris  that  Calvin 
dedicates  his  book,  that  Rabelais  is  read,  and,  finally, 
that  the  St.  BartholomcAv  is  seen.  She  does  not 
change  her  creed  at  the  word  of  a  dynasty,  nor  is 
she  swept  by  the  same  purely  religious  zeal  for  re- 


INTRODUCTION.  41 

form  that  covers  Geneva  and  so  much  of  Holland ; 
nor  does  she  stamp  out  the  new  movement  with  the 
ease  of  the  Italian  or  the  Spaniard  ;  but  all  the  powers 
of  the  time  seem  to  concentrate  in  her,  and,  as  she 
has  always  done,  she  pays  heavily  for  being  the 
centre  of  European  discussion.  The  appeal  Avith  her 
(as  elsewhere)  is  to  arms,  and  the  struggle  is  still 
continuing  under  Louis  XIV.,  when  its  importance 
Avanes  before  the  rise  of  a  rationalism  around  which 
the  future  battles  of  her  religious  Avorld  will  be 
fought. 

This  is  always  the  lesson  of  her  history  and  the 
way  we  should  read  it  if  we  wish  to  understand. 
We  are  looking  down  into  a  little  space  where  all 
our  society  is  working  out  its  solutions.  Whether 
we  dwell  upon  the  Gothic  Paris  of  Louis  XI.,  fixing 
nationality  and  centralized  government,  or  upon  the 
Paris  of  '93, — cutting  once  for  all  the  knot  of  eigh- 
teenth century  theories, — or  the  Paris  of  '48,  where 
the  old  political  and  the  new  economic  problems  met; 
or  upon  the  Paris  of  1871,  where  the  older  social 
forces  and  the  love  of  country  just  managed  to  defeat 
the  revolt  of  the  new  proletariat;  in  whatever  aspect 
or  at  whatever  time,  she  is  always  the  picture  of 
Europe,  catching,  in  a  bright  and  perhaps  highly 
colored  mirror,  the  figures  which  are  struggling  in 
the  nations  around  her.  And  it  is  in  this  character 
that  her  history  will  be  most  easy  of  comprehension 
and   will    leave    with   us    an   impression   of  greatest 


42  PARIS. 

meaning.  But  whenever  we  think  of  the  city  we  do 
well  to  remember  Mirabeau  :  "Paris  is  a  Sphinx." 
He  added,  "I  will  drag  her  secret  from  her;"  but 
in  this  neither  he  nor  any  other  man  has  suc- 
ceeded. 


LUTETIA.  43 


CHAPTER    II. 

LUTETIA. 

To  understand  the  development  of  the  city  of 
Paris  it  is  necessary  to  carry  the  reader  back  to  the 
historical  origins  of  the  Celtic  tribe  whose  rendezvous 
it  was,  and  from  whom  the  name  of  the  modern  town 
has  been  derived. 

As  will  be  seen  later  in  this  chapter,  the  prehis- 
toric remains  which  some  other  portions  of  France 
furnish  in  such  abundance  have  been  but  rarely  dis- 
covered in  the  territory  of  the  city  or  of  its  suburbs, 
and  even  the  rough  memorials  of  Celtic  barbarism, 
such  as  are  studded  over  Wales  and  Brittany,  are 
scarcely  to  be  found  in  the  neighborhood. 

Our  knowledge  of  the  place  and  of  its  people  can 
only  be  said  to  begin  with  the  Roman  invasion  of 
Gaul  under  Ctesar,  though  he  furnishes  us  with  some 
clue  as  to  the  events  immediately  preceding  his  con- 
quest. 

What  was  the  nature  of  the  territory  whicli  this 
tribe  of  the  "  Parisii "  occupied  ? 

A  modern  traveller  who  looks  over  the  town  from 
the  heights  of  Montmartre,  or  from  the  dome  of  the 


44  PAEIS. 

Pantheon,  on  a  clear  day,  sees  before  liim  a  great 
plain,  encircled  on  almost  every  side  by  distant  and 
low  lulls,  those  on  the  south  and  west  being  nearer 
than  those  upon  the  north  and  east. 

The  extent  of  this  great  "  basin,"  as  the  geologists 
have  called  it,  is  larger  than  that  occupied  by  any 
modern  city,  hardly  ever  less  than  twenty  miles  in 
diameter,  in  places  far  more.  London  itself,  with  its 
suburbs,  woidd  not  till  the  vast  circumference.  Paris 
occupies  but  the  southern  portion. 

The  river  Seine  enters  this  plain  from  the  south- 
east, coming  from  the  high  land  which  separates  Bur- 
gundy and  Champagne,  and  which  forms  the  main 
watershed  of  northern  France. 

The  river  turns  through  this  plain  in  a  great  arc 
or  bow  (of  which  the  cord  is  the  southern  range  of 
hills),  strikes  the  western  heights  where  the  suburb 
of  Sevres  now  stands,  turns  north-ward,  skirts  these 
hills  for  several  miles,  and  finally  escapes  from  the 
great  plain  by  a  wide  gap,  on  the  south  of  which 
stands  the  modern  fort  of  Mount  Valerian,  and  on  the 
north  the  pointed  hillocks  of  Enghien  and  Montmo- 
rency. It  is  by  this  gap  that  the  Western  Railway 
enters  the  plain  of  Paris,  and  a  traveller  who  comes 
from  Havre,  Dieppe  or  Cherbourg,  passes  through  it 
some  twenty  minutes  before  reaching  the  city.  But  it 
is  so  wide,  and  the  hills  on  either  side  are  compara- 
tively so  low,  that  it  is  difficidt  to  distinguish  the  mo- 
ment of  entry  into  the  plain. 


LUTETIA.  45 

From  the  above  description  it  will  be  ai^parent  that 
the  river  Seine  confines  its  great  bend  to  the  southern 
and  western  extremities  of  the  plain.  It  is  never 
very  far  distant  from  the  hills  on  the  south,  and  runs, 
as  we  have  said,  quite  close  under  those  on  the  west, 
so  that  any  city  growing  (as  a  city  must  groAv)  round 
the  waterway  would  be  certain  to  lie  on  the  southern 
side  of  the  plain  we  have  described,  and  this  is,  of 
course,  the  position  which  Paris  occupies  to-day. 

While  we  have  spoken  of  this  great  circle,  or  oval, 
as  a  "  plain,"  it  must  be  noted  that  the  surface  of  it 
is  diversified  by  isolated  ridges  and  hills,  rising,  in  the 
extreme  instance  of  Montmartre,  to  the  height  of 
three  hundred  feet  or  more.  This  is  especially  the  case 
in  the  southern  portion,  where  the  city  of  Paris  has 
arisen,  and  we  will  describe  the  appearance  and  situa- 
tion of  these  lesser  heights  after  having  given  some 
account  of  the  original  site  or  nucleus  of  the  town. 

A  boatman  roAving  one  of  those  light-draught 
vessels  which,  even  before  the  Roman  conquest,  were 
plying  a  trade  upon  the  Seine,  if  he  were  coming 
down  stream,  as  did  Labienus  in  his  famous  attack 
on  the  place,  would  have  found  his  course  following 
the  great  bend  of  the  river,  carrying  him  in  a  north- 
westerly direction,  and  leaving  the  southern  hills  at 
an  increasing  distance  upon  his  left.  After  some 
miles  of  such  a  progress,  just  before  he  reached  the 
northernmost  ])ortion  of  the  great  bend,  and  before  the 
river  turned  south^vard  to  meet  the  hills  again,  he 


46  PARIS. 

Atould  have  noted  three  large  islands  lying  in  the 
stream,  which  here  flowed  between  banks  of  from  ten 
to  twenty  feet  in  height. 

The  first  two  islands  he  would  have  left  on  his 
right  and  })assed,  for  they  contained  nothing  but 
brushwood  and  marsh.  They  lay  close  up  against 
the  right  bank  of  the  river,  and  were  uninhabited. 

But  the  third  island  would  have  fonned  an  excel- 
lent place  to  halt  with  his  merchandise,  for  it  was  evi- 
dently a  tribal  centre  of  some  kind. 

It  lay  right  in  midstream,  was  probably  surrounded 
by  a  stockade  of  wood  and  pointed  beams,  and  within 
this  could  be  discerned  a  number  of  Gaulish  huts, 
round,  with  flat  dome-roofs,  made  of  wattled  boughs 
and  daubed  witli  clay,  dispersed  in  no  very  regular 
order,  containing  a  population  of  a  few  hundred  souls. 
On  looking  for  a  mooring-jjlace  at  which  to  land,  he 
would  have  found  none  upon  the  island,*  for  such  an 
arrangement  would  have  spoiled  its  powers  of  de- 
fence ;  but  on  the  right  bank,  just  opposite  the  isl- 
and, he  would  have  noticed  that  the  bank  had  been 
shelved,  either  naturally  or  artificially,  and  that  there 
ran,  for  a  hundred  yards  or  more,  a  sloping  shore 
upon  which  boats  could  be  beached. 

Here  he  would  land,  finding  probably  a  few  of  the 
local  boatmen  assembled,  for  the  place  seems  to  have 
had,  even  before  the  Roman  conquest,  a  guild  of  such 

*  There  is  some  doubt  on  this.     Some  authorities  believe  the 
Port  St.  Landry  to  have  been  originally  a  Gaulish  wharf. 


LUTETIA.  47 

fellows.  Crossing  a  wooden  bridge  lying  immedi- 
ately to  the  west  of  the  landing-place,  he  would  find 
himself  in  the  Island  of  Lutetia. 

This  island  is  to  Paris  what  the  ^^  Urbs  quadrata  " 
is  to  Rome,  and  what  the  City  is  to  London.  It  is  the 
sacred  spot  of  the  whole  city,  the  nucleus  round 
which  was  to  gather,  ring  by  ring,  the  Paris  of  His- 
tory, till  at  last  the  little  separate  place  appears,  to 
those  who  do  not  know  its  story,  like  an  insignificant 
accident  upon  the  great  map  of  the  town,  save  that, 
even  to  the  most  casual  observer,  it  would  seem  strik- 
ing that  in  this  little  space  should  be  crowded  the  eccle- 
siastical, administrative  and  judiciary  centres  of  the 
capital,  almost  to  the  exclusion  of  any  private  houses. 

But  to  return  to  our  Gaulish  boatman.  Had  he 
that  curiosity  which  Csesar  attributes  to  his  country- 
men, he  Avould  have  learned  that  the  island  was  the 
stronghold  and  rendezvous  in  time  of  war  of  the 
Parisii.  The  old  men  (if  the  stranger  is  supposed  to 
arrive  just  before  the  Roman  invasion)  would  tell 
him  that  they  could  remember  how  this  tribe  had 
been  chased  from  the  north-east  of  Gaul  by  the  Bel- 
gic  confederation,  whose  frontiers  lay  close  to  their 
town ;  how  they  sought  protection  of  the  great  tribe 
of  Senones  lying  to  the  west,  their  kinsmen,  and  were 
granted  this  land  which  t^iey  now  occupied,  stretch- 
ing all  over  the  distant  hills,  and  especially  into  the 
woods  on  the  west  of  the  islands. 

The  stranger,  as  he  walked  in   the   place,  would 


48  PARIS. 

have  noted  such  features  as  the  following :  The 
length  of  the  island  upon  which  he  found  himself 
was  just  more  than  half  a  mile  ;  it  was  not  much  over 
a  furlong  in  breadth,  and  even  this  space  of  less  than 
fifty  acres  was  not  Avell  filled.  Towards  the  western 
extremity  the  houses  failed  altogether ;  part  of  the 
open  space  was  devoted,  presumably,  to  gardens ; 
and  beyond  a  narrow  ditch  lay  two  quite  small  islands 
— not  one  hundred  yards  in  length — lying  side  by 
side,  and  bringing  the  total  number  of  the  group  to 
five ;  two  that  is  beyond  the  three  which  he  had  al- 
ready noticed.  Returning  to  the  centre  of  the  island, 
another  wooden  bridge  would  have  been  perceived, 
miiting  the  village  to  the  left  or  southern  bank  of 
the  river.  This  (he  woidd  have  learned)  connected 
the  great  road  from  the  south  with  that  which  Avent 
north  to  Senlis,  over  the  bridge  by  which  he  had 
entered.  The  two  structures  were  probably  in  a 
line  Avith  each  other,  and  the  only  regidar  street  in 
the  little  place  was  that  which  connected  them.  Thus 
Lutetia  formed  a  halting-place  for  many  a  traveller 
or  messenger  coming  from  the  Loire  and  going 
to  certain  parts  of  the  sea-coast,  or  to  some  of  the 
northern  cities,  though  it  lay  too  far  to  the  w^est 
to  be  on  the  main  line  of  communication  between  the 
Rhone  valley  and  the  channel,  which  formed  the  prin- 
cipal road  in  Gaul.  It  must  be  remembered  that  the 
great  bulk  of  communication  with  the  sea,  especially 
in  earlier  Roman  times,  centred  upon  the  Straits  of 


LUTETIA.  49 

Calais,  and  but  few  travellers  in  Gaul  had  occasion  to 
pass  through  Paris  in  order  to  reach  the  narrow  sea. 

Now  let  us  suppose  our  traveller  to  observe  his 
surroundings,  what  would  he  have  noticed  I 

From  the  level  of  the  island  little  could  be  seen. 
On  the  south,  within  a  very  short  distance  of  the 
river  bank,  rose  a  low  but  steep  eminence,  whose 
later  Latin  name  was  Mons  Lucotetius.  Down  the 
side  of  this  hill  came  the  southern  road  to  cross  the 
bridge  into  the  town. 

On  the  north,  at  a  distance  of  some  miles,  he 
might  have  caught  the  sharp  outline  of  a  steep  hill — 
higher  by  far  than  anything  surrounding  it,  and  iso- 
lated in  the  plain. 

If,  however,  he  had  climbed  some  fairly  high 
building  on  the  island,  such  as  one  of  those  wooden 
watch-towers  which  were  raised  in  time  of  danger, 
he  would  have  had  on  every  side  but  that  which  was 
screened  by  the  "  Mons  Lucotetius,"  a  very  extensive 
view. 

On  the  south-east  side  he  woidd  have  looked  up  the 
river  from  which  he  had  just  landed.  Perhaps  he 
would  have  just  barely  caught  a  gleam  of  the  Marne 
where  it  falls  into  the  Seine,  three  miles  away. 
Then,  as  his  gaze  swept  round  to  the  south,  he  would 
have  noted  the  rise  of  the  heights  that  bound  the 
plain  In  this  direction,  and  would  have  marked  a  little 
river  (the  Bicvre)  coming  through  them  and  falling 
into  the  Seine  almost  immediately  beneath  him.     The 

4 


50  PARIS. 

view  due  soutli  woukl  be  masked,  ns  wo  have  said, 
by  the  hill  on  Avhich  the  Pantheon  now  stands  ;  but 
a  little  west  of  this  he  would  again  see  the  hills  beyond 
all  that  Avide  level  space  which  is  now  tlie  Faubourg 
St.  Germain,  the  Invalides  and  the  Champ  de  Mars. 

Here,  as  he  looked  to  the  south-west,  he  would  see 
the  Seine  completing  its  great  bend,  and,  very  far 
away,  turning  suddenly  to  the  I'ight  and  to  the  north, 
to  skirt  the  western  hills.  Between  himself  and  those 
hills,  however,  from  two  to  three  miles  away,  he 
would  notice  a  long,  low  ridge  covered  with  a  dense 
wood.  It  is  now  known  as  the  Heights  of  Passy. 
It  rose  from  the  river-bank  and  ran  northnard, 
sinking  into  the  plain  at  some  little  distance  from  that 
sharp  hill  of  Montmartre,  which  would  stand  so  clearly 
defined  to  the  north  of  his  position.  If  the  day  were 
clear  he  might  see  beyond  this,  very  fointly,  the 
heights  of  Enghien,  where  the  river  leaves  the  plain 
of  Paris  ;  but  in  hardly  any  conditions  could  he  catch, 
on  the  extreme  verge  of  the  horizon,  the  low  hills 
that  bound  it  on  the  north.  To  the  right  of  IMont- 
martre  more  or  less  disconnected  ridges  and  plateaus 
would  be  seen,  growing  lower  and  lower,  until  finally 
a  perfect  level  completed  the  circle,  and  led  the  eye 
to  the  river  again  in  the  south-easterly  direction, 
where  it  had  begun  its  circuit. 

From  this  description  it  will  be  seen  that  a  kind 
of  great  half-oval,  level  district  lay  on  the  right  bank 
of  the  river,  dotted  round  with  ridges   and  low,  iso- 


LUTETIA.  61 

lated  hills — a  district  some  five  miles  from  east  to  west 
— while  from  the  islands  to  Montmartre,  at  its  extreme 
northern  point,  would  be  about  two  and  a  half  to 
three  miles.  It  is  upon  this  plain  that  the  greater 
part  of  Paris  has  since  been  buUt,  but  at  the  time  of 
which  we  speak  it  was  a  stretch  of  waste,  swampy, 
unprofitable  land,  contrasting  with  the  good,  arable 
land  on  the  other  side  of  the  river. 

This  northern  flat  was  on  the  eastern  side  a  mere 
marsh,  becoming  in  winter  a  kind  of  large,  shallow 
lake,  while  its  western  side  (below  the  heiglits  of  Passy, 
spoken  of  above)  was  drained  by  a  rividet,  to  which 
a  later  age  gave  the  name  of  Menil-Montant.  It  fell 
into  the  Seine  just  a  mile  and  a  half  below  the  islands. 

Through  this  northern  flat  the  road  to  Senlis 
picked  its  way  across  the  driest  portion,  namely,  from 
the  Avooden  bridge  almost  due  north,  till  it  passed 
just  by  the  hill  of  Montmartre,  to  the  east.  It  was 
the  only  sign  of  humanity  in  the  malarious  place,  Avhfle 
the  wooded  bills  to  the  south  and  west,  though  more 
beautiful,  were  equally  lonely. 

In  the  centre  of  a  sparse  hunting  tribe  there  lay 
this  little  fortified  island,  a  group  of  barbarian  huts,  a 
community  of  fishermen  and  hunters.  It  Avas  des- 
tined to  become  the  great  and  typical  city  of  the  west. 

Where  the  boats  are  moored  on  the  northern  bank, 
the  muddy  shore,  the  Place  de  Greve  (keeping  the 
name  of  its  origin)  is  to  be  the  scene  of  the  justice  of 
medieval  kings,  of  the  rise  of  the  city  government ; 


52  PAEIS. 

there  the  Hotel  de  Ville  is  to  stand ;  and  on  the  spot 
which  a  few  GauHsh  fishermen  made  their  meeting- 
place  a  great  horde  of  their  descendants  were  to 
stand,  waiting  in  the  night  of  the  9th  Thermidor 
for  the  call  to  arms  which  Robespierre  refused  to 
sign. 

That  distant  Avooded  ridge  in  the  Avest  is  to  be 
crowned  with  the  triumphal  arch  of  Csesar's  I*arallel. 

The  marsh  will  breed  an  insurrectionary  mass  of 
men.  It  will  be  the  quarters  in  later  days  of  the 
crowds  that  achieved  all  the  glories  and  that  perpe- 
trated all  the  crimes  of  1793. 

On  that  little  island  the  great  Cathedral  of  the  mid- 
dle ages  will  stand.  A  stone's  throw  from  it  the 
Courts  of  Justice  and  the  Parliaments,  and  finally 
the  terrible  Tribunal  of  the  Revolution  will  sit  where 
the  ragged  gardens  are. 

The  hill  to  the  south  will  be  crowned  by  the  most 
famous  of  universities  ;  on  its  summit  will  be  buried 
the  two  men  Avho,  more  than  any  other  pair,  have 
made  our  modern  era.  That  little  lonely  village  will 
shake  the  world. 

Let  us  now  treat  in  some  detail  the  story  of  the 
city,  and  especially  of  its  outward  aspect  from  the 
first  known  origins. 

At  the  head  of  these  lie,  of  course,  the  scanty 
geological  evidences  of  prehistoric  conditions.  Al- 
though the  region  occupied  by  the  City  of  Paris  and 


LUTETIA.  53 

its  surroundings  is  not  rich  in  prehistoric  remains, 
various  burial-places  and  implements  have  been  dis- 
covered in  recent  years  in  the  Bois  de  Vincennes  and 
at  Varenne-Saint  Hilaire  ;  on  the  banks  of  the  Marne 
and  the  Seine;  at  Paris,  Meiidon  and  Marly  ;  at  Saint- 
Germain  en  Laye,  at  Argenteuil,  and  near  the  mouth 
of  the  Oise  at  Conflans-Sainte-Honorine — all  these 
yield  incontestable  proof  that  this  district  has  been 
inhabited  by  man  from  the  earliest  ages. 

To  cite  but  one  example — the  Dolmen  found  at 
Conflans-Sainte-Honorine  is  a  remarkably  perfect 
specimen  of  these  prehistoric  buildings.  When  it 
was  discovered,  the  stones  at  the  sides  and  one  be- 
longing to  the  roof  were  still  in  their  place;  a  vesti- 
bule six  and  a  half  feet  square  was  separated  from 
the  tomb  itself  by  a  huge  slab  of  rock,  and  this  slab 
was  pierced  with  a  round  hole,  near  which  was  found 
the  circular  stone  which  had  served  to  close  the  open- 
ing. Beyond  this  were  two  tombs,  their  combined 
length  measuring  about  twenty-nine  feet  and  their 
width  about  seven.  An  upright  stone  placed  across 
the  centre  divided  them  into  nearly  equal  parts,  Avhile 
room  was  left  for  a  narrow  passage-way.  This  inter- 
esting monument  was  taken  carefully  apart  and  trans- 
ported to  the  Chateau  of  Saint-Germain  en  Laye, 
where  the  great  museum  is  housed,  and  it  was  set  up 
in  the  moat. 

In  some  of  the  burial-places  discovered  various 
implements  and  tools   have  been   found.     They  are 


64  PAEIS. 

made  of  flint  and  stag-horn,  and  comprise  hatchets, 
harpoons,  arrows,  stilettos  and  swords. 

With  the  Celtic  conquest  a  new  order  of  things 
was  introduced.  The  conquerors  brought  with  them  a 
distinct  advance  in  civilization.  There  are  indica- 
tions that  they  could  irrigate  tlie  fields  and  that  they 
could  dig  wells.  Wooden  bridges*  Avere  throAvn 
across  the  Seine,  connecting  the  island  with  the  main- 
land, where  they  pastured  their  domestic  animals  on 
the  left  bank  in  the  plain  of  Grenelle,  in  the  Green 
Valley  (Vauvert),  and  in  the  Pre  aux  Clercs.  On 
the  right  bank  the  large  sAvamp  mentioned  above 
stretched  from  about  where  the  jMilitary  Hospital  now 
stands  as  far  south  as  the  present  Place  de  la  Bastille, 
and  from  the  Boulevard  de  Belleville  on  the  east  to 
about  the  line  of  the  Rue  Saint-Martin  on  the  west. 
The  Canal  Saint-Martin  of  our  day  would  act  as  a  drain 
down  the  very  centre  of  the  marsh,  did  it  still  exist. 
The  fields  bordering  the  left  bank,  on  the  other  hand, 
were  arable.  They  Avere  probably  planted  in  Avheat, 
barley  and  hay,  as  Caesar  describes  those  Avhich  he 
saw  along  the  shores  of  the  Loire ;  Avhile  roads 
must  have  been  opened,  in  order  that  the  countrymen 
and  farmers  might  convey  their  produce  to  tlic  settle- 
ment confined  Avithin  the  narrow  limits  of  the  island. 

*  The  Pont  Notre  Dame  is  thought  to  be  identical  with  the 
northern  one  of  tliese,  though  there  is  some  uncertainty  on  this 
point.  The  soutliern  one  is  known  to  he  exactly  where  the  Petit- 
Font  to-day  unites  the  ishind  witli  the  left  bank  of  the  Seine. 


LUTETIA.  55 

The  industries  of  this  period  were  presumably  con- 
fined to  the  manufacture  of  rough  pottery  and  the 
spinning  of  wool  for  clothing,  both  of  them  purely 
domestic.  It  was  left  for  Rome  to  introduce  the  cen- 
tralized capital  and  the  gangs  of  slaves  which,  after 
three  centuries,  proved  her  economic  ruin. 

The  real  history  of  Paris  begins  with  the  "  Com- 
mentaries "  of  Csesar,  wherein,  as  he  speaks  of  the 
collection  of  fishermen's  huts  on  the  island  in  the 
Seine,  he  calls  it  Lutetia,  clearly  employing*  a  latin- 
ized form  of  the  name  by  which  it  was  already 
knoAvn.  Strabo  writes  it  Lucotocia,  and  Ptolemy 
Lucotecia,  while  the  Emperor  Julian,  writing  from 
the  city  to  which  he  was  so  deeply  attached,  calls  it 
LoHclictia.  Of  these  various  spellings  that  employed 
by  Cajsar  is,  however,  the  one  commonly  adopted, 
though  it  is  worth  noting  that  the  hill  of  the  Univer- 
sity was  known  for  centuries  as  "  Mons  Lucotetius." 
The  derivation  of  the  name  has  been  the  subject  of 
much  research.  Scholars  have  attempted  to  trace  it  to 
Celtic  sources,  and  especially  to  the  dialect  surviving 
in  lower  Brittany,  but  no  conclusive  proof  has  been 
found  to  support  any  one  theory. 

The  settlement  on  the  Island  of  the  Seine  was  at  this 
time  hardly  a  town,  but  rather  the  central  district  of 
a  tribe — an  arrangement  found  in  many  other  Celtic 

■■  Carlyle's  guess  in  this  matter,  when  lie  si)eaks  of  tlie  "  Mud- 
T(jwii  of  tlie  Borderers  (Lutetia  Parisiorum,  or  Barsiorura),"  is 
of  course  based  on  nothing. 


56  PAEIS. 

groups.  When  Csesar  attended  the  assemblage  of 
the  tribes  of  Gaul,  convoked  by  him  at  Lutetia,  its 
inhabitants  formed  a  division  of  a  clan  or  tribe  called, 
by  the  author  of  the  "  Commentaries,"  the  Parisli,  a 
name  used  to  indicate  the  district  which  they  occupied. 
He  says  of  this  tribe,  "  The  Parisii  are  inhabitants 
of  a  tract  bordering  vipon  that  of  the  Senones,  with 
whom  tradition  says  they  Avere  once  allied."  This 
tract  must  have  covered  about  the  same  extent  of 
ground  as  that  included  in  the  ancient  diocese  of 
Paris  before  the  year  1622,  that  is  the  entire  depart- 
ment of  the  Seine,  and  a  part  of  that  of  Seine-et- 
Oise. 

The  etymology  of  the  name  Parisii  has  been  no 
less  a  subject  of  dispute  than  that  of  Lutetia,  but  in 
this  instance  the  occupation  of  the  inhabitants  may 
serve  us  somewhat  as  a  guide.  According  to  Bullet's 
Celtic  dictionary,  the  word  Bar*  or  Par,  in  that 
tongue,  signifies  a  boat.  In  lower  Britanny  the 
cargo  of  a  ship  is  called  the  far  or  fanl.  The  Celtic 
word  i^«r,  then,  signifying  a  boat,  may  well  have  pro- 
duced that  of  Parisii,  meaning  boatmen  ;  and  it  must 
be  especially  noted  that  the  most  ancient  emblem  of 
Lutetia  is  a  boat,  as  may  be  seen  by  the  very  inter- 
esting carving  which  ornaments  the  base  of  one  of 
the  vaults  of  a  roof  in  the  ancient  Palais  des  Thor- 
mes,  on  the  left  bank  of  the  Seine  ;  that  same  boat 

*  Let  those  wlio  are  Celtic  scholars  decide.     Lavallee  assures 
us  that  the  same  root  signifies  "  Border." 


LUTETIA.  57 

also  to-day  indicates  the  city  on  her  public  monu- 
ments.* Thus  the  powerful  association  of  the  Nautce 
Parisiaci — Parisian  Boatmen — which,  later  on,  Ave 
find  playing  so  prominent  a  part  in  the  affairs  of  the 
city,  may  be  traced  to  a  Celtic  or  Gallic  origin.  Caesar 
must  have  found  it  completely  organized,  since  his 
contemporary,  Strabo,  refers  to  the  various  products 
transported  from  the  south  by  the  Gauls,  as  much 
by  water-ways  as  overland.  Those  fifty  boats  em- 
ployed by  Labienus  to  convey  his  army  from  Melo- 
dunum  (Melun)  to  Lutetia,  in  order  to  make  himself 
master  of  that  town,  probably  belonged  to  the  Nautai. 

This  guild  or  association  was  the  ancestry,  no 
doubt,  of  that  other  which,  in  the  reigns  of  Louis  le 
Gros  and  Louis  VII.,  Avas  called  Mercatores  Aqme 
Parisiaci,  who,  in  turn,  Avere  the  forerunners  of  the 
municipal  body  charged  Avith  the  oversight  of  the 
navigation  of  the  Seine  and  the  Avater-carriage. 

There  is  nothing  more  A'aluable  as  an  object-lesson 
of  the  historical  truth  that  the  Roman  Empire  Avas 
transformed,  and  did  not  die,  than  the  story  of  this 
association.  It  is  one  of  a  thousand  continuities,  but 
a  striking  one.  At  the  same  time  it  is  AA^orth  noting 
that  Paris,  Avhich  (as  Ave  shall  see)  only  becomes  im- 
portant at  the  close  of  the  Empire,  is  the  typical 
transitional  city  just  before  the  barbarian  invasions. 

*  The  triple  prows  which  you  may  see  on  the  lamp-posts  of 
modern  Paris  is  an  emblem  1500  years  old,  and  without  a  break 
of  continuity. 


58  PAEIS. 

They  had,  just  after  the  Roman  conquest,  a  port 
of  embarkation  and  disembarkation  on  that  side  of 
the  island  bordering  on  the  wider  arm  of  the  Seine, 
which  was  always  navigable.  There  their  boats 
could  be  unloaded  right  in  Lutetia.  In  the  middle 
ages  this  port  Avent  by  the  name  of  Saint-Landry, 
that  bishop  having  had  an  oratory,  or  possibly  his 
dwelling  there.* 

In  addition  to  these  known  facts  w^e  may  fairly 
presume  that  the  Nautse  must  have  had  a  central  ad- 
ministration for  the  traffic  on  the  river. 

As  Ave  have  said  earlier  in  the  chapter,  the  princi- 
pal place  for  unloading  was  on  the  other  bank  of  the 
Seine  at  the  Greve,  Avhere  later  Ave  find  the  Pre  vote 
de  I'eau  established,  out  of  Avhich  grcAV  the  municipal 
body  of  Paris. 

These  riA^er  tradesmen  formed  a  poAverful  corpora- 
tion, from  Avhose  number  Avere  chosen  for  a  long  pe- 
riod the  magistrates  charged  Avith  the  conduct  of  the 
GoA-ernment.  It  developed  later  mto  the  Hanse 
Parisienne,  that  company  of  merchants  which  achieved 
such  celebrity  in  the  middle  ages,  the  kernel  of  the 
College  of  Magistrates  or  Corps  of  the  City  of  Paris. 

In  the  time  of  the  LoAver  Empire,  in  the  reign  of 
Posthumus,  the  northern  faubourg  developed  to  such 
an  extent  that  it   became  necessary  to  establish  a 

*  The  Gallo-Eoman  ruins  discovered  in  1844,  when  the  Kue 
de  Constantine  was  opened,  may  have  belonged  to  a  forum  or  food 
market. 


LUTETIA.  59 

market  there.  And  in  connection  with  this  is  a  very 
interesting  example  of  that  continuity  which  is  so 
marked  a  feature  in  the  story  of  the  town.  This 
market  has  occupied  for  centuries  exactly  the  same 
spot,  and  to-day  the  vast  city  uses  it  for  its  central 
Ilallcs,  and  the  Quai  de  la  Greve  must  assuredly  have 
been  then,  as  it  has  been  ever  since,  a  port  where 
merchandise,  transported  thither  from  the  upper 
Seine,  could  be  unloaded  for  the  use  of  this  place  of 
exchange.  When  the  southern  suburb,  situated  near 
the  line  of  the  great  road  leading  from  Lutetia  to 
Grenabum,*  spread  and  increased  in  importance,  still 
another  quay  was  created,  situated  apparently  on  the 
southern  bank  of  the  river,  on  the  spot  which,  ever 
since  the  middle  ages,  has  gone  by  the  name  of  Quai 
de  la  Tournelle,  from  the  great  tower  erected  there 
in  place  of  one  which  had  formed  a  part  of  the  south- 
ern walls  of  defense  constructed  under  Philip  Au- 
gustus. 

The  chief  settlement  of  the  Parisii  was  situated,  as 
has  been  already  stated,  on  the  largest  island  in  the 
Seine,  now  forming  I'Isle  de  la  Cite.  At  the  time 
of  the  Roman  conquest  it  had  made  but  little  ad- 
vance towards  civilization.  Though  they  had  ap- 
parently submitted  to  the  conqueror,  the  Parisii 
were  loyal  at  heart  to  the  national  cause ;  for 
when,  in  the  year  54,  Vercingetorix  summoned  all 

*  Orleans. 


60  PAEIS. 

the  people  of  Gaul  to  take  part  in  the  final  struggle 
against  the  Romans,  they,  together  with  the  neigh- 
boring tribes,  undertook  to  intercept  Labienus,  one  of 
Csesar's  lieutenants,  who,  with  four  legions,  was  march- 
ing south,  endeavoring  to  rejoin  his  commander. 
Deeming  their  town  insufficiently  provided  with  the 
means  of  defense,  they  burned  it,  and  destroyed  the 
bridges  which  connected  it  with  the  mainland.  Then 
they  proceeded  to  entrench  themselves  behind  those 
marshes  that  extended  along  the  Seine  near  Juvisy 
and  the  mouth  of  the  Orge.  After  sundry  strategic 
movements,  the  encounter  finally  took  place  probably  at 
some  spot  lying  between  the  modern  villages  of  Ivry 
and  Vitry,  on  the  left  bank  of  the  Seine.  After  a 
fierce  struggle  the  legions,  moulded  in  a  superior 
discipline,  triumphed  over  the  allied  forces,  and  the 
latter  were  completely  subdued. 

The  obstinate  resistance  of  the  Parisii  drew  down 
upon  them  the  wrath  of  their  conquerors,  and  Lutetia 
was  ranked  among  the  "  Vectigal "  or  tributary 
cities  ;  that  is,  in  the  lowest  grade  of  conquered  towns. 

The  assertions  sometimes  made  that  Csesar  took 
pleasure  in  strengthening  and  beautifying  Lu- 
tetia, and  that  it  was  he  who  built  the  defenses  on 
the  mainland,  to  protect  the  northern  and  southern 
bridges  (defenses  afterward  called  Grand  and  Petit 
Chatelets),  are  without  contemporary  proofs.  At  the 
same  time,  in  spite  of  the  disadvantages  under  which 
she  labored,  in  less  than  a  century  after  Csesar's  time, 


LUTETIA.  61 

the  settlement  of  the  Parisii,  risen  from  her  ruins, 
had  become  one  of  the  great  centres  of  water-carriage 
in  the  interior  of  Gaul.  In  the  reign  of  Tiberius — 
that  is,  some  time  between  the  years  14  and  37  of 
our  era,  the  Society  of  Nautse,  or  Navigators,  already 
spoken  of,  erected  an  altar  to  Jupiter  on  the  eastern 
extremity  of  the  island.  The  ruins  of  this  altar  were 
discovered  in  1711,  in  the  course  of  some  excava- 
tions made  beneath  the  choir  of  the  Cathedral  Church 
of  Notre  Dame.  And  here,  even  more  than  in  the 
instances  already  mentioned,  the  characteristic  of 
continuity  appears;  for  within  a  few  yards  of  the  spot 
on  which  that  altar  stood,  rose  the  high  altar  of  the 
first  Christian  church,  again,  the  present  high  altar  of 
Notre  Dame,  is  but  a  few  feet  to  the  west.  This 
pagan  relic  appears,  after  more  than  1700  years, 
to  confound  us  with  our  Roman  origin.  On  a  stone 
set  in  the  principal  facade  of  this  monument  may  be 
read  the  following  inscription :  "  Under  Tiberius 
Csesar  Augustus  the  Parisii  sailors  have  pubHcly 
raised  this  altar  to  Jupiter,  most  good,  most  mighty." 
We  thus  have  most  satisfying  proof,  by  the  way, 
of  the  existence  of  this  Society  in  the  time  of  Ti- 
berius. 

The  next  event  of  importance  in  the  history  of  the 
city,  of  which  we  have  any  record,  is  the  arrival, 
towards  the  middle  of  the  third  century,  of  Saint 
Denis  with  his  two  companions,  a  priest  named  Rus- 
ticus  and  a  deacon  called  Eleutherius,  charged  with  a 


62  PAEIS. 

mission  to  preach  the  Gospel  to  the  people  of  Lu- 
tetia.  In  Csesar's  time  the  national — that  is,  the 
Druidical — religion  was  still  in  force.  Augustus  for- 
bade its  practice  by  Roman  citizens,  and  in  the  reign 
of  Claudius  it  had  entirely  disappeared.  These  mis- 
sionaries of  still  another  form  of  religion  do  not  seem 
to  have  been  well  received  by  the  people  of  Gaul,  for 
Gregoire  de  Tours  tells  us  that  "  under  the  Emperor 
Decius  (249-251)  Saint-Denis,  sent  to  Gaul  and 
made  Bishop  of  Paris,  having  suffered  many  tor- 
ments for  the  name  of  Christ,  ended  his  earthly  life 
by  the  sword."  (Hist.  Francor.,  i.,  xxx.)  It  is 
worthy  of  note  that  the  above  reference  constitutes 
the  sole  historical  account  of  the  death  which  gave 
Bayard  his  battle-cry  and  St.  Just  his  repartee,  and 
which  produced  so  vast  a  mass  of  mediaeval  legend. 
During  the  ensuing  century  a  number  of  emperors 
came  to  Lutetia,  sometimes  residing  there,  and  it  was 
now  that  the  city  began  to  issue  from  its  obscurity 
and  to  take  a  prominent  position  in  the  world.  It  is 
with  the  end  of  Rome  that  the  city  destined  to  per- 
petuate the  Latin  idea  in  modern  times  becomes 
great. 

Constantius  Chlorus,  Constantino  the  Great,  and 
his  two  sons,  Constantino  the  younger  and  Constan- 
tius, in  turn  lived  in  the  capital  of  the  Parisii.  To 
the  hrst-named  is  usually  credited  the  erection  of  the 
Palais  des  Thermos,  the  ordinary  residence  of  the 
Emperors. 


LUTETIA.  63 

Julian,  Constantine's  nephew,  commonly  called  Ju- 
lian the  Apostate,  spent  the  winters  of  the  years  358 
and  359  there,  as  well  as  a  part  of  the  year  360, 
and  occupied  the  Palais  des  Thermes, 

This  prince  was  deeply  attached  to  the  place.  He 
calls  it  his  "  Darling  Lutetia."  Here  he  lived  in 
great  contentment,  far  removed  from  the  troubling 
and  dangerous  life  of  the  imperial  court,  surrounded  by 
a  little  household  of  philosophers  and  scholars,  steeped 
in  the  pleasant  but  misleading  dream  that  the  pro- 
gress of  the  mystics  and  the  tide  of  the  Faith  would  be 
turned.  One  of  this  circle,  the  physician,  Oribasius, 
edited  a  curtailed  edition  of  the  writings  of  Galen — 
"  the  first  work,"  says  Chateaubriand,  in  his  Etudes 
Historiques,  "  that  was  published  in  this  city  destined 
to  enrich  literature  Avith  so  many  masterpieces."  It 
is  interesting  to  note  that  thus  early  in  her  history 
Paris  is  the  chosen  abiding-place  of  Julian  and  of  his 
little  coterie  of  pagan  philosophers,  and  that  her  first 
book  issues  from  such  a  place  as  her  greatest  men 
of  the  Revolutionary  time  woidd  have  delighted  to 
honor.  In  his  writings  Julian  speaks  with  enthu- 
siasm of  the  climate  of  Lutetia,  of  her  vineyards  and 
fig  trees  ;  and — an  opinion  that  should  please  the  for- 
eign ear  to-day — he  speaks,  above  all  else,  of  the 
austere  morals  of  her  inhabitants,  who,  for  the  most 
part,  were  still  pagans. 

It  was  here  that  the  Roman  soldiers,  refusing  to 
obey  the  order  issued  by  Constantius  in  360,  calling 


64  PAEIS. 

them  to  the  East,  arrayed  Julian  in  the  imperial  pur- 
ple and  invested  him  with  the  title  of  Augustus. 
Valentinian  and  Gratian  also  loved  Lutetia,  in  the 
neighborhood  of  which  the  latter  gave  battle  to 
Maximus  in  383  ;  and  Maximus,  when  he  gained  the 
victory,  celebrated  his  conquest  by  erecting  a  tri- 
umphal arch  in  Lutetia.  Remains  of  this  work  have 
been  discovered  near  the  Church  of  St.  Landry,  in 
risle  de  la  Cite. 

To  turn  again  to  the  Palais  des  Thermes  let  us 
examine  briefly  that  part  of  it  which  has  been  pre- 
served to  the  present  day.  These  vast  ruins,  among 
the  most  important  in  France,  will  serve  to  give  us 
some  idea  of  the  extent  and  importance  (relative  to 
Lutetia)  of  the  great  building  which  dominated  not 
only  the  city  itself,  but  the  approach  to  it  from  the 
south  by  the  Roman  road,  which  led  through  Gena- 
bum  (Orleans)  to  the  south  of  Gaul,  and  to  Italy. 
Most  of  what  is  still  standing  is  to  be  seen  on  the  left 
as  you  go  up  the  Boulevard  >>t.  Michel,  that  is,  as 
you  go  out  by  the  line  of  the  old  southern  road  just 
after  crossing  the  Boulevard  St.  Germain.  It  is  in- 
corporated with  the  Musee  de  Cluny.  Other  por- 
tions have  been  found  at  various  times  beneath  the 
level  of  the  adjacent  houses  and  streets.  The  palace 
probably  extended  west  almost  as  far  as  St.  Ger- 
main des  Pres,  that  is,  the  large  gardens  of  which  we 
have  spoken  above  stretched  so  f^ir,  a  matter  of  nine 
hundred  yards,  and  it  was  surrounded  by  a  fairly  dense 


LUTETIA.  65 

population.  Remains  of  a  great  wall  have  been  dis- 
covered south  of  the  palace,  and  traced  as  far  as  the 
Rue  Soufflot.  The  aqueduct,  a  description  of  which 
is  given  below,  supplied  the  imperial  baths  with  an 
abundance  of  pure  water,  and  likewise  fed  the  foun- 
tains in  the  palace  and  the  adjoining  neighborhood. 
It  is  this  part  that  is  still  standing  that  has  given 
the  name,  Palais  des  Thermes,  to  the  Avhole  building, 
the  interior  arrangements  clearly  indicating  its  use. 
Vetruvius  states  that  in  all  Roman  establishments  the 
baths  were  found  on  the  western  side  of  the  edifice, 
which  is  the  relative  position  occupied  by  these  ruins. 

More  than  this,  we  can  readily  recognize  the  great 
apartments  used  for  the  warm  and  cold  baths,  the 
piscina  or  swimming-pool,  the  furnace  and  the  reser- 
voir, and  trace  the  route  of  the  aqueduct,  which 
brought  the  water  from  Rungis,  Paray,  and  Mont 
Jean,  situated  in  the  hill-country  on  the  south. 

This  aqueduct  was  nineteen  thousand  metres,  or 
about  eleven  miles,  long ;  the  water  ran  through  a 
channel  of  about  one  yard  square  ;  along  the  slopes  of 
the  hills  which  skirt  the  valley  of  the  Bievre  on  the 
east ;  portions  of  it  have  been  found  near  the  cha- 
teau of  Mont  Jean,  and  at  Fresnes,  Bourg-la-Reine 
and  Hay.  At  Arcueil  it  was  necessary  to  cross  both 
the  valley  and  the  river,  and  this  was  done  by  a 
great  row  of  arches  one  hundred  and  fifty  yards  long- 
by  fifty  feet  high. 

Ruins  of  this  huge;  construction  still  exist,  and  por- 
5 


66  PAEIS. 

tions  of  the  reservoir  connected  with  it  were  discov- 
ered in  the  Rue  Sainte  Catherine  d'Enfers  when 
the  Rue  Gay-Lussac  was  opened. 

It  is  probable  that  this  part  of  tlie  imperial  palace 
has  survived  almost  intact,  as  during  the  early  ages 
of  Christianity,  when  the  habits  and  customs  of  Ro- 
mans still  prevailed,  this  great  bathing  establishment 
was  still  kept  up,  and  only  abandoned  at  the  time  of 
the  Norman  siege  of  Paris  in  the  ninth  century,  when 
the  palaces,  churches  and  dwelling-houses  situated 
around  the  city  were  destroyed  by  fire. 

Indeed,  we  have  here  one  principal  instance  of 
what  we  shall  see  in  the  next  chapter  to  have  been 
the  case  all  over  Europe,  namely,  that  Rome  and  the 
life  of  Rome  lingered  on,  though  in  decay,  till  after 
Charlemagne  ;  that  the  nadir  was  not  reached  after 
the  first  invasions  of  the  fifth  and  sixth  centuries. 
It  Avas  the  violent  incursions  of  the  ninth  century, 
the  "  Darkness  of  the  death  of  Charlemagne,"  that 
brought  our  civilization  to  its  lowest  ebb. 

History  does  not  tell  us  the  precise  epoch  to  which 
Lutetia  owes  the  palace  on  the  left  bank  of  the  river, 
and  the  aqueduct  connected  with  it.  Julian's  name 
has  been  associated  with  it,  but  probably  only  because 
of  his  residence  there,  it  being  hardly  likely  that,  in 
the  course  of  his  brief  sojourns,  he  could  have  car- 
ried on  building  operations  of  such  magnitude. 

In  the  great  apartment  still  standing  we  find  the 
carving,  before  alluded  to,  which  represents  the  prow 


LUTETIA.  67 

of  a  ship  laden  with  merchandise,  and  may  point  to 
the  Society  of  the  Nautte  as  having  co-operated  in  the 
erection  of  the  building. 

Then  behind  the  palace,  south  of  it,  that  is,  and  right 
upon  the  southern  "svall,  stood  the  citadel  of  Lutetia, 
It  probably  occurs  to  every  student  that  this  was  a 
strange  site  for  the  stronghold  of  a  city.  Far  from 
the  centre,  dominated  by  the  high  ground  of  the  Mons 
Lucotetius,  it  woidd  seem  a  bad  place  for  any  stubborn 
defense. 

But  this  situation,  like  that  of  so  many  citadels  in 
Roman  Gaul,  is  a  striking  proof  of  Avhat  the  Roman 
Empire  had  become.  A  huge  and  orderly  body,  hav- 
ing established  its  domination  and  its  unity,  the  army 
(at  least  that  part  of  it  well  within  the  borders)  Avas  the 
"  occupation  "  of  the  cities.  They  feared  no  sieges. 
They  took  the  most  convenient,  not  the  strongest, 
place  for  their  residence,  rather  than  their  refuge.  As 
a  fact,  when  defense  is  actually  needed  again  (as  in  the 
Norman  siege),  the  old  unit  of  Gaulish  resistance  be- 
comes once  more  the  true  "  arx  Parisiorum." 

The  route  of  the  aqueduct  described  above  lay  be- 
tween the  two  Roman  roads  of  Montrouge  and  Ar- 
cueil,  the  former  identical  Avith  the  modern  BoulcA'ard 
St.  Michel,  and  the  latter  the  road  from  the  south, 
with  the  Rue  St.  Jacques.  After  entering  the  city  by 
means  of  the  Petit-Pont,  it  crossed  the  Grand- Pont  to 
the  right  bank  and  led  off  northeastAvards  to  Senlis, 
foUoAving  the  line  of  the  modern  Rue  de  Faubourg  St. 


68  PARIS. 

Martin  and  the  Rue  d'AUemagnc.  There  are  a  few 
other  points  of  correspondence  between  the  ancient 
Roman  city  and  Paris  of  to-day — as,  for  example,  the 
great  unfinislied  Church  of  Sacre-Coeur,  standing  to- 
day midway  between  the  sites  of  the  two  heathen 
temples  on  Montmartre  ;  the  Rue  du  Faubourg  St. 
Denis,  which  follows  the  Roman  road  to  the  north ; 
and  the  old  roads  leading  off  to  the  south-west,  now 
known,  the  one  as  the  Rue  Lecourbe,  and  the  other 
by  its  ancient  name  of  Vaugirard ;  while,  on  the 
other  hand,  the  Roman  Grenelle  and  Issy  road  has 
disappeared,  except  for  a  short  distance,  where  its 
name  as  well  as  its  track  have  been  preserved  by 
the  modern  Rue  de  Grenelle — that  is,  it  exists  only 
between  the  Champ  de  Mars  and  the  University. 

The  drain  Avhich  runs  in  a  westerly  direction  from 
the  Place  de  la  Republique,  and,  describing  a  half  cir- 
cle, enters  the  Seine  near  1' Avenue  de  Trocadcro,  fol- 
lows the  exact  course  of  a  stream  of  Roman  and  me- 
diseval  times,  namely,  that  of  Menil-Montant.  Fi- 
nally, the  district  lying  south  and  west  of  the  Luxem- 
bourg Gardens  was  the  Roman  Terra  ad  Fiscum 
Isclacenseni — that  is,  its  produce  went  to  feed  the 
public  treasury. 

The  altar  to  Jupiter,  already  spoken  of,  in  all 
probability  formed  a  part  of  a  heathen  temple  which 
was  replaced  by  a  Christian  basilica  when,  under 
Constantine,  Christianity  was  proclaimed  the  religion 
of  the  Empire.     The  other  end  of  the  island,  the  site 


LUTETIA.  69 

on  which  the  Palais  de  Justice  now  stands,  has  been, 
since  the  fourth  century  (the  period  when  Paris  re- 
ceived the  full  municipal  status),  constantly  occupied 
by  a  building-  of  some  sort  devoted  to  the  use  of  the 
governing  body. 

The  date  of  the  construction  of  the  first  boundary- 
walls  has  never  been  established,  but  it  is  knoAvn  that 
by  the  middle  of  the  fifth  century  the  island  was  com- 
j)letely  surrounded  by  them.  Remains  of  a  low 
Gallo-Roman  rampart  were  found  in  1847  in  the 
course  of  the  excavations  conducted  in  front  of  Notre 
Dame. 

On  the  right  bank  of  the  Seine,  a  region  much 
more  sparsely  settled,  traces  of  important  buildings 
have  likewise  been  discovered.  Two  burial-grounds 
lay  in  what  would  now  be  the  neighborhood  of  the 
Rue  Vivienne  and  the  Palais  Saint  Jean.  The  great 
reservoir  which  supplied  the  public  baths  stood  on 
the  site  of  the  Palais  Royal,  and  was  fed  by  an  aque- 
duct wdiich  brought  the  water  from  the  heights  of 
Chaillot,  while  a  Pioman  fleet  charged  with  the  sine- 
cure of  the  defense  of  the  Seine  was  stationed  near 
Paris. 

To  the  beginning  of  the  fifth  century  is  attributed 
the  Episcopate  of  Saint-Marcel.  He  died  about  the 
year  436,  and  was  buried  on  a  height  outside  the 
city,  Mons   Citardus.*      In   the   folloAving   century   a 

*  "Mouffetard." 


70  PAEIS. 

church  was  erected  over  his  tomb,  around  which  a 
settlement  rapidly  grew  up  called  the  Bourg  St. 
Marcel,  incorporated  later  into  Paris  under  the  name 
of  Faubourg  St.  Marceau.  And  here,  thirteen  hun- 
dred years  later,  the  turbulence  that  formed  Danton's 
army  came  to  hear  him  and  march  with  him  from 
the  Cordeliers. 

Upon  these  few  facts  the  meagre  history  of  Roman 
Lutetia  hangs.  But  while  contemporary  Avriting  tells 
us  so  little,  the  inferences  we  can  draw  from  archae- 
ology leave  us  free  to  form  a  fairly  accurate  picture 
of  what  the  Roman  city  A\as  like. 

To  view  it,  let  us  imagine  ourselves  in  the  fifth  cen- 
tury, just  before  the  Frankish  conquest.  Let  us  go 
to  the  heights  on  the  south  and  look  northward,  recon- 
structing point  by  point  that  which  we  actually  know 
was  there.     The  impression  is  full  and  vivid. 

We  will  suppose  ourselves  to  be  stationed  at  a  point 
overlooking  the  valley  of  the  Bievre,  some  sixty  feet 
above  the  Roman  aqueduct  of  Arcueil,  and  a  hundred 
yards  or  so  behind  it.  Were  we  to  follow  the  valley 
we  would  come  to  the  Roman  road  of  Mons  Citardus 
(corresponding  to  the  modern  Rue  Mouffetard),  lined 
on  either  side  with  tombs.  A  little  further  away,  on 
the  eastern  slope  of  Mons  Lucotetius  (Mont  Ste. 
Genevieve),  we  see  the  Amphitheatre. 

As  a  fact,  the  Amphitheatre  in  the  fifth  century  had 
disappeared.  Its  stones  had  been  largely  used  to  build 
a  ncAv  wall  round  the  island,  and  the  great  building 


LUTETIA.  71 

Avhose  remains  lie  beneath  the  Rue  Monge,  riglit  in 
the  University  quarters  of  to-day,  was  a  ruin  before  the 
Franks  came  to  the  city. 

To  the  left  of  the  Amphitheatre,  and  a  little  be- 
yond it,  may  be  seen  the  port  of  the  Nautic,  just  where 
the  present  Rue  de  Pontoise  ends,  in  the  Quai  de  la 
Tournelle.  Mons  Lucotetius  cuts  off  a  little  of  the 
view  of  the  most  important  part  of  the  city,  as  there 
stood  the  first  Christian  church,  a  basilica  dedicated  to 
Saint  Stephen,  built  just  after  the  reign  of  Julian  the 
Apostate,  and  replacing  a  temple  to  Jupiter.  It  cov- 
ered the  site  of  the  present  Sacristy  of  Notre  Dame, 
reaching  nearly  to  the  Presbytery.  Factories  and 
furnaces  stand  on  the  summit  of  the  hill,  while  on  the 
southern  slope,  facing  us,  is  a  burial-ground ;  on  the 
west  it  is  built  up  with  dwelling-houses  and  some  of 
the  out-buildings  of  Julian's  palace,  and  nearby 
stands  the  reservoir  supplied  by  the  aqueduct  of 
Arcueil,  and  the  barracks  of  the  garrison. 

The  palace  gardens  stretching  off  to  the  left,  along 
the  Seine,  are  bounded  on  the  south  and  Avest  by  a 
wall,  and  on  the  north  by  the  river.  It  is  worthy 
of  note  that  until  the  thirteenth  century  this  enclosure 
remained  unbuilt  upon,  and  was  called  by  a  name 
indicating  its  origin,  viz.,  Jardin  or  "  Clos  de  Laas," 
i.e.,  of  the  Palace. 

Beyond  the  palace  and  Mons  Lucotetius  we  see 
the  white  buildings  of  the  city,  standing  out  clearly 
against  the  green  background  of  the  fields  which  lie 


72  PAKIS. 

between  the  Seine  and  the  stream  of  Menil-Montant. 
On  the  right,  near  the  extremity  of  the  island,  rise 
the  imperial  statue  on  the  quay  of  the  Nauta^  and 
the  altars  raised  to  Jupiter  and  the  gods.  Further 
to  the  left,  facing  the  road  that  traverses  the  city,  is 
the  southern  gate,  and  beyond  it,  on  the  far  side  of 
the  island,  the  northern  one.  The  forum,  or  market- 
place, occupies  the  space  lying  between  the  two  gates, 
while  the  administrative  Palace — the  Palais  de  la 
Cite — and,  close  by  the  northern  boundary  wall  the 
prison,  can  be  clearly  traced  against  the  fields  of  the 
northern  bank. 

Just  where  the  street  now  runs  to  the  Pont  au 
Change,  by  the  palace,  the  walls  are  pierced  with  a 
gateway,  ornamented  with  columns,  opening  directly 
upon  the  river  front.  On  this  side  the  city  overlooks 
a  small  arm  of  the  Seine,  filled  in  somewhere  about 
the  thirteenth  century.  The  little  island  that  separated 
it  from  the  larger  branch  went,  later  on,  by  the  name 
of  He  de  Galilee. 

Continuing  still  further  to  the  left,  we  come  first 
to  the  palace,  then  to  the  palace-gardens,  and  finally 
to  the  tower  Avhicli  guarded  this  western  extremity 
of  the  city.  Above  it,  and  still  more  to  the  left,  we 
can  see  the  reservoir  of  the  Passy  aqueduct,  behind 
which  the  green  plain  extends  to  right  and  left, 
bounded  by  the  heights  of  Chaillot,  Montmartre 
and  Menil-Montant,  composed  for  the  most  part  of 
meadow-lands  and  marshes,   and  crossed  by    roads 


LUTETIA.  73 

leading  to  the  eastern,  northern  and  maritime  prov- 
inces. The  little  stream  of  Menil-Montant  gleams 
like  a  silver  thread  in  the  distance,  reaching  from  the 
marsh  on  our  right  to  the  forest  of  Coiivre  on  the 
left,  that  forest  of  which  the  Bois  de  Boulogne  is  the 
last  relic.  Mons  Martis  (Montmartre),  on  the  horizon, 
is  crowned  by  the  temples  of  Mars  and  Mercury, 
by  this  time  either  deserted  or  used  as  Christian 
churches,  and  at  its  base  is  the  northern  burial- 
ground. 

At  this  period  the  Roman  Empire  was  falling  into 
its  transformation  and  decline,  while  from  all  parts  the 
barbarian,  who  had  long  been  passing  into  the  happier 
plains  of  the  south,  came  Avith  increasing  pressure. 
Still  Paris  continued  to  be  a  purely  Roman  city  until 
very  nearly  the  end  of  the  fifth  century. 

The  Franks  are  pushing  forward  in  the  north,  the 
Saxons  have  landed  in  Britain  ;  even  Attila  sweeps 
in  that  great  cavalry  charge  over  the  west,  but  Paris 
is  spared.  Before  this  century,  the  fifth,  came  to  a 
close  however,  the  barbarian  is  within  her  walls,  and 
in  the  next  chapter  we  shall  deal  with  the  long  twi- 
light wliicli  fell  upon  her  civilization,  and  which  only 
broke  in  the  dawn  of  the  middle  ages. 


74  PARIS. 


CHAPTER  III. 

PARIS   IN   THE   DARK    AGES. 

What  kind  of  city  did  Paris  become  when  the 
order  and  pomp  of  Rome  had  grown  old,  crmnbled 
and  fallen  into  decay  ? 

To  answer  this  question  it  is  necessary  to  form  a 
clear  idea  of  the  long,  dark  time  that  followed  the  bar- 
barian invasions.  That  vast  period  which  Ave  vaguely 
call  the  "  middle  ages,"  with  which  we  connect  the 
feudal  state  of*  society,  and  whose  interest  and  tenor 
of  thought  appear  to  us  so  distinct  from  those  of 
modern  times,  is  by  no  means  the  one  continuous 
era  Avhich  our  imagination  too  frequently  pictures  it. 

Apart  from  the  innumerable  minor  changes  and 
developments  which  make  every  part  of  it  as  diversi- 
fied in  its  way  as  our  own  or  the  last  century,  the  great 
epoch  falls  into  two  well-defined  divisions,  to  the  first 
of  which  the  name  "  dark  ages "  may  properly  be 
given;  to  the  second  only  should  the  term  of  "middle 
ages  "  be  applied. 

We  must  remember  that  these  two  together  deal 
with  the  space  of  a  thousand  years  ;  and  the  marvel 
is  not  so  much  that  one  revolution  and  total  change 
in  society  should  have  occurred  in  such  a  prodigious 
lapse  of  time,  but  rather  that  only  one  such  complete 


PAKIS  IN  THE  DAKK  AGES.  75 

renewal  should  have  taken  place.  The  short  four 
centuries  since  their  close  have  given  us,  in  the  Ref- 
ormation and  the  Industrial  and  Political  Revolution 
of  the  last  hundred  years,  at  least  three  such  move- 
ments, and  the  immediate  promise  of  more. 

The  two  principal  epochs  of  this  thousand  years 
are  distinguished  as  follows  :  The  first  is  that  process 
of  continual  decline  which,  having  its  origin  in  the 
breakdown  of  Rome, — that  is,  in  the  lower  empire 
of  the  fourth  and  fifth  centuries, — reaches  its  nadir 
or  lowest  point  in  the  generation  which  saw  the 
millennium. 

The  year  1000,  or  more  accurately  the  generation 
immediately  succeeding  it,  marks  the  turning-point. 
The  ninth  and  tenth  centuries  may  be  said  to  vie  with 
one  another  for  the  evil  primacy  as  to  which  was  the 
most  terrible  :  the  heathen  onslaught  of  the  former 
and  the  brutal  anarchy  of  the  latter  appear  almost 
equally  worthy  to  be  called  a  furnace  in  which  our 
civilization  was  tried.  The  second  great  epoch  is 
connected,  of  course,  with  the  first  by  a  transitional 
period,  but  that  period  is  comparatively  short  for  the 
astounding  work  which  it  accomplishes.  The  long 
life  of  one  man  might  cover  it,  for  a  person  born  be- 
fore the  Norman  conquest  of  Calabria  might  easily 
have  lived  to  see  the  discovery  at  Amalfi  of  the 
Roman  code. 

The  whole  of  Europe  awakes.  The  Normans 
show,  first,  how  a  true  kingdom,  with  peace  and  order 


76  PAEIS. 

and  unity,  may  be  established.  They  accomplish  this 
feat  at  the  two  extremities  of  Europe,  the  islands  of 
Sicily  and  England.  The  Capetian  House  establishes 
in  France  the  origin  of  that  strong,  central  govern- 
ment without  which  a  nation  cannot  live.  The  sen- 
timent of  nationality  slowly  emerges  from  the  confu- 
sion of  feudalism  ;  then  come  the  forging  blows  of 
the  Hildebrandine  reform  and  of  the  Crusades,  and  the 
brilliant  career  of  the  middle  ages  has  definitely  begun. 

The  great  kingships,  the  Roman  law,  the  universi- 
ties, the  vernacular  literature  have  appeared,  and 
with  them  the  Gothic  architecture,  whose  survivals 
can  prove  to  our  generation,  better  than  any  histori- 
cal evidence,  how  intense  and  how  vivid  was  the  ncAV 
life  of  Christendom. 

From  that  day  to  our  own  Europe  has  never  lost 
its  eagerness,  its  abundant  vigor,  its  power  of  expan- 
sion, and,  in  its  mental  attitude,  the  spirit  of  inquiry ; 
Avhat  Renan  so  admirably  calls  "la  grande  Curiosite" 
— the  basis  of  all  her  grandeur. 

It  is  with  the  first  period,  however,  with  the 
"  dark  ages,"  that  we  have  to  deal  in  this  chapter. 
We  have  to  trace  the  story  of  Paris  during  that  long 
dotvmcard  half  of  the  valley  that  covers  a  thousand 
years.  What  characteristics  shall  we  discover  in  the 
five  hundred  years  and  more  Avhich  this  degradation 
covers  ?  Of  the  details  in  its  history  we  shall  treat 
later  in  the  chapter ;  but  before  reaching  these  it  is 
necessary  to  draw  up  some  kind  of  picture  of  the  time. 


PARIS  IN  THE  DARK  AGES.  77 

In  the  first  place,  to  repeat  a  phrase  Avhich  has 
ah'cady  been  used  more  than  once  in  this  history, 
Rome  did  not  die  ;  it  was  transformed.  On  all  sides, 
it  is  true,  her  civilization  lost  ground ;  her  art  was 
rude,  inaccurate,  and  at  the  same  time  less  idealized; 
her  production  of  Avcalth  less  great ;  her  architecture 
had  become  a  matter  of  routine ;  her  letters  had 
grown  crabbed.  Only  in  one  department  of  human 
energy  had  a  change  occurred,  which  a  simple  history 
such  as  this  dares  neither  praise  nor  blame — the  phi- 
losophy of  the  empire  had  been  touched  with  mysti- 
cism ;  the  Orient  had  convinced  the  Occident ;  the 
shrine,  the  miracle,  the  unseen  had  replaced  the  clear 
and  positive  attitude,  the  speculative  and  cold  intel- 
lect, which  had  distinguished  the  philosophy  of  Rome 
in  her  time  of  greatest  power.  Mediseval  religion, 
Avith  its  legends,  its  marvels,  its  passionate  abnega- 
tions and  its  theories  of  the  superhuman,  had  ap- 
peared. 

Was  this  advance  of  mysticism  part  of  the  uni- 
versal decay,  or  was  it,  on  the  contrary,  the  one  good 
counterbalance  that  viltimately  saved  the  world  from 
barbarism  ?  The  answer  can  only  be  discovered  in 
the  attitude  of  the  reader's  own  mind;  it  is  a  problem, 
the  solution  of  which  lies  not  in  the  region  of  his- 
torical proof,  but  in  the  department  of  mental  habit, 
of  conviction  and  of  faith. 

Gibbon  would  tell  us  that  it  was  the  natural  conse- 
quence   of   disaster    and    of   decay ;    that    with    the 


78  PARIS. 

Saxons  harrying  the  channel,  the  Hunnish  cavalry 
laying  Avaste  the  central  west,  fear  produced  its  inva- 
riable accompaniment  of  superstition  ;  that  Gene- 
vieve (if  she  existed  ever)  was  some  leader  of  strong 
character,  capable  of  organizing  a  prosaic  resistance, 
and  that  an  ignorant  and  debased  populace  saw  in 
her  mission  something  of  the  incomprehensible,  and 
therefore  of  the  divine. 

But  Michelet,  who  is  as  great  as  Gibbon,  and  has 
for  his  own  people  a  far  truer  sympathy,  would  un- 
doubtedly yield  to  the  mystic  influence,  and  would 
picture  to  us  almost  with  devotion  the  church  of  the 
fifth  and  sixth  centuries,  because  for  him  the  people 
are  its  authors,  and  this  conception  of  the  people  is, 
for  him,  the  soul  of  history. 

What  were  the  causes  of  this  beginning  of  de- 
cline !  Perhaps  the  best  general  answer  to  this  ques- 
tion is  to  say  "old  age;"  but  the  proximate  and  im- 
mediate cause,  or,  if  you  will,  the  most  obvious  symp- 
tom of  the  break-down  was  economic.  It  was  in  the 
form  of  a  decline  of  wealth,  especially  of  the  method 
of  producing  wealth  which  the  Roman  Empire  had 
fostered  with  such  marvellous  success,  that  the  pinch 
began  to  be  felt.  It  was  (roughly  speaking)  towards 
the  close  of  the  third  century  that  the  evil  became 
marked.  The  system  which  Rome  had  spread  over 
the  whole  of  the  west  was  one  admirably  suited  to  an 
immense  expansion  of  wealth,  and  therefore  of  popu- 
lation.   At  the  basis  of  it  lay  the  conception  of  Order. 


PARIS  IN  THE  DARK  AGES.  79 

The  Pax  Romana  was  a  domestic  as  well  as  a  politi- 
cal thing,  and  Rome  had  made  this  duty  of  police  the 
most  sacred  foundation  of  her  power.  She  was  sav- 
age in  repressing  savagery,  and  Avhen  her  task  was 
completed  she  had  so  strongly  succeeded  that  perfect 
order  and  peace  had  atrophied  her  powers. 

In  the  second  place,  the  idea  of  absolute  property 
and  of  its  concomitant,  the  sanctity  of  contract,  was 
very  prominent  in  her  civilization.  The  right,  "  utere 
at  abutere,"  to  use  or  to  wantonly  destroy,  was  her 
exaggerated  way  of  asserting  this  dogma  of  individ- 
ualism. It  is  from  this  we  get  in  our  common  law 
the  conception  of  inviolable  property  in  land ;  and 
from  this,  again,  that  the  extreme  and  harsh  deduc- 
tions of  the  Common  Law  (which  Equity  came  in  to 
rectify  on  lines  more  consonant  with  Christian  morals) 
proceed. 

In  the  third  place,  excellent  communications  and 
practically  free  exchange  completed  the  edifice. 

Such  rules  of  government  are  obviously  calculated 
to  increase  productive  power ;  and,  indeed,  those 
nations  which  to-day  regard  the  accumulation  of 
wealth  as  the  end  of  civilization  have  adopted  a  very 
similar  code.  Rome's  success  was  the  proof  of  the 
soundness  of  her  premises.  In  places  that  are  now 
deserts,  wheat-fields  furnished  the  vast  capital  with 
food ;  in  the  now  half-barren  uplands  of  Asia  Minor 
she  nourished  a  teeming  population,  and  easily  sup- 
ported half  a  hundred  of  great   cities.     In  Britain 


80  PAEIS. 

alone,  and  almost  by  agriculture  alone,  she  found 
place  for  ten  millions  of  people ;  and  in  Gaul  the 
villages  became  great  and  flourishing  towns. 

How  did  such  a  system  begin  to  fall  "I  The  con- 
ditions which  Rome  had  established  were  favorable — 
only  too  favorable — to  the  growth  of  that  disease  of 
which  our  present  civilization  stands  in  such  terror. 
A  few  accumulated  the  means  of  production,  and  upon 
a  few  (but  not  the  same)  fell  the  burden  of  the  state. 
A  system  of  taxation  which  w^ell  suited  a  })opidation 
among  which  wealth  had  been  not  ill-distributed  be- 
came onerous  and  almost  intolerable  as  the  conditions 
changed.  What  we  should  now  call  "  the  upper  mid- 
dle class  "  bore  the  chief  share  of  the  public  burden. 
Will  it  be  credited  that  when  Gaul  had  passed  through 
less  than  four  hundred  years  of  the  Roman  system, 
many  of  this  class  voluntarily  sank  into  a  semi-servile 
status  rather  than  continue  to  support  the  fisc. 

The  system  of  production  which  Rome  had  intro- 
duced gave  to  the  rich  man  great  advantages.  With 
his  gangs  of  slaves,  making  use  of  the  admirable 
roads,  of  a  sea  protected  from  piracy,  and  competing 
with  the  poorer  man  under  conditions  where  protec- 
tion was  unknown,  he  built  up,  not  only  in  industry 
but  in  agriculture,  a  highly  capitalistic  system.  The 
smaller  men  fell  more  and  more  into  dependence, 
sometimes  actually  into  servitude;  and  when  the 
empire  was  at  its  height,  great  prosperity  was  gained 
at  this  price,  namely,  that  but  a  few  were  actively 


PAKIS  IN  THE  DARK  AGES.  81 

concerned  even  with  the  economic  welfare  of  the 
state,  and  that  the  stability  of  the  system  depended 
upon  the  conservation  of  every  iota  of  its  gigantic 
energies.  Were  these  to  fail  at  any  point,  nothing 
could  save  it  from  decay. 

This  catastrophe  (which  was  bound  sooner  or  later 
to  occur)  was  determined  more  rapidly  than  one 
might,  in  reading  the  glories  of  the  Antonines,  have 
anticipated.  Within  a  century  or  a  century  and  a 
half  the  great  scheme  of  production  is  found  "  not  to 
be  paying."  Civil  Avar,  the  apathy  of  the  general  citi- 
zen, a  little  less  order,  a  certain  shaking  of  security, 
and  the  decline  began.  The  initiative  which  might 
have  saved  it  could  only  come  from  the  energy  of  a 
mass  of  small  owners,  and  they  had  disappeared.  In 
their  place  men  in  every  stage  of  dependence,  the 
great  bulk  of  them  actually  slaves,  cultivated  the  vast 
estates  or  worked  in  the  centralized  manufactories, 
and  it  even  began  to  be  more  profitable  to  ask  of 
these  masses  a  constant  fraction- of  the  produce  of 
their  labor  than  to  directly  exploit  them.  Custom, 
in  the  decay  of  public  order,  was  replacing  competi- 
tion, and  the  first  note  of  mediaeval  industry  had 
sounded. 

It  Avas  upon  such  a  society  that  the  barbarian  inva- 
sions fell ;  and  that  the  reader  may  form  a  picture 
of  the  fifth  century  citizen  who  endured  them,  we 
will  ask  him  to  imagine  an  owner  of  property  in  the 
neighborhood  of  Lutetia,  and  watching  the  course  of 

6 


82  PAEIS. 

events  from  the  mental  standpoint  of  that  city  whose 
outward  aspect  we  described  in  our  last  chapter. 

Such  a  man  would  have  a  house,  let  us  say,  on  the 
southern  road  between  the  Mons  Lucotetius  and  the 
hills.  Before  him  to  the  north  would  lie  the  city, 
which  he  would  frequent  for  its  baths,  for  its  news 
and  for  its  merchandise — possibly,  also,  for  its  public 
worship.  He  would  probably  be  a  Christian.  That 
large  body  of  Paganism  which  Avas  left  in  Gaul  was 
found  rather  among  the  people  of  the  outlying  dis- 
tricts, among  the  very  poorest  of  the  cities,  or  here 
and  there  in  the  members  of  some  old  family  still 
maintaining  the  tradition  of  their  ancestors  of  a  hun- 
dred years  before.  But  his  Christianity  would  be  of 
the  official  Roman  sort — his  bishop  at  Lutetia  virtu- 
ally an  officer  of  the  State,  his  religion  the  state 
religion. 

About  his  house,  however,  a  great  estate  woidd 
lie,  and  this  was  called  a  vUla.  The  ancestor  of  our 
modern  village,  it  was  tenanted  by  a  very  different 
kind  from  the  master — dependents,  freedmen,  slaves, 
living  presumably  in  a  cluster  of  houses  along  the 
road,  the  origin  of  the  mediaeval  village,  and  culti- 
vating the  area  of  its  parish.  They  woidd  have  their 
priest,  their  regular  time  and  place  of  meeting,  their 
customs  and  traditions  even  as  to  their  method  of 
cultivation,  in  which  their  master  would  less  and  less 
interfere,  and  in  their  religion  much  of  legend,  of 
local   tradition,    of   national    folk-lore    was   included. 


PARIS  IN  THE  DARK  AGES.  83 

They  worshipped  many  saints  whose  very  names 
their  master  had  never  heard,  and  they  reverenced 
some  who  were  indeed  nothing  but  the  old  gods 
under  new  names  ;  they  kept  the  feasts  with  half- 
pagan  ceremonies  which  all  the  Avorld  has  since  loved 
to  observe,  and  it  is  this  lower  comraunitv  which 
forms  our  link  with  the  prehistoric  past.  We  owe 
it  all. 

The  master  of  the  villa  spoke  Latin,  not  more  differ- 
ent from  that  of  the  Augustan  era  than  is  our  English 
from  that  of  the  Elizabethans.  His  dependents  spoke 
the  more  corrupt  speech  which  they  had  learned  from 
the  Roman  soldiery,  and  in  a  hundred  matters  of 
ordinary  life  they  used  words  of  which  the  classics 
knew  nothing.  Their  accent,  in  the  growing  diffi- 
culty of  communications,  was  taking  a  strongly  local 
tone,  and  the  termination  of  the  cases  were  already 
clipped  in  ordinary  speech.  Still  more  curious,  the 
accusative  was  being  more  commonly  used  for  most 
of  the  other  cases,  and  no  doubt  Avhere  their  master 
would  still  talk  of  "  Mons  Lucotetius,"  they  would 
make  some  such  sound  as  "mont'm,"  or  even  "mont'," 
serve  to  describe  it. 

What  would  be  the  attitude  of  the  master  of  the 
villa  relative  to  the  break-up  of  the  empire  going  on 
around  him  ?  In  the  first  place,  we  must  dismiss 
from  our  minds  the  conception  of  any  patriotism. 
Tlie  enqjire  was  not  a  nation  to  be  loved ;  it  was  the 
whole  of  civilization — it  was  the  Avorld.     That  it  could 


84  PAKIS. 

fall  was  inconceivable,  and  remained  inconceivable 
to  the  middle  ages. 

The  mind  had  long  grown  familiar  to  the  idea  of 
infiltration  of  the  outer  barbarians.  They  had  served, 
of  course,  in  the  armies  |  as  pensions  they  had  received 
frontier  lands,  and  there  was  a  long  and  continuous 
intercourse  between  the  two  sides  of  the  border. 

Even  with  invasion  there  Avas  a  considerable  famil- 
iarity ;  invasion  was  a  part  of  the  weakness  of  the 
government,  but  then  the  government  w^as  known  to 
have  weakened.  The  number  of  the  clamorers,  and 
their  pressure,  increased  5  the  shores  of  the  narrow 
seas  became  untenable ;  at  last  even  Britain  is  aban- 
doned ;  still  the  Roman  citizen  cannot  conceive  that 
his  empire — the  whole  Avorld — is  coming  to  an  end. 
Tribes  of  barbarians  break  through  the  lines  on  the 
north-east ;  he  hears  that  advantage  has  been  taken 
of  their  prowess — that  they  are  allied  to  the  Roman 
forces.  Some  of  them  are  given  land — what  of  that? 
It  is  but  an  exaggeration  of  an  old  custom^  anxiety, 
however,  loss  of  security,  cutting  off  the  main  roads, 
— all  these  show  his  civilization  to  be  failing. 

Visiting,  perhaps,  that  Roman  Marcellus,  the  Bishop 
of  the  city,  he  hears  from  one  event  to  another  the 
symptoms  of  the  fall.  Before  he  is  a  man  of  middle 
age  the  final  occupation  of  northern  Gaul,  and  that 
dreadful  name  of  sovereignty,  given  to  the  barbarian, 
is  heard ;  in  Lutetia  probably  chance  warriors  come, 
unmolested  and  stared  at. 


PAEIS  IN  THE  DARK  AGES.  85 

Attila  strikes  the  city  with  a  terrible  fear;  hut 
(how  shall  we  represent  in  anything  like  sober  his- 
tory the  story  of  Genevieve?)  it  is  spared,  and  the 
poorer  people,  the  makers  of  religion,  found  her  legend 
and  her  sainthood. 

Still  our  Roman  provincial  land-owner  might  have 
lived  to  see  Clovis  entering  Paris,  and  to  know  that 
the  land  from  the  Loire  northAvard  was  separated 
from  the  body  of  Rome. 

NoAv,  this  catastrophe  would  have  made  less  im- 
pression on  him — or,  let  us  say,  on  his  successors, 
for  he  would  have  reached  extreme  old  age — than 
the  modern  reader  might  imagine.  The  shell  of 
Roman  life  remained :  the  buildings,  the  language, 
the  organization,  the  administrative  and  domestic 
arrangements, — all  these  Avere  captured  by  the  bar- 
barian, transformed  by  his  arrival,  but  by  no  means 
destroyed. 

The  war  band  of  Clovis  numbered  some  8000  men, 
and  the  whole  nation  of  the  Burgundians  but  40,000. 
These  comparatively  small  forces  came  into  a  Gaul 
of  millions  upon  millions.  They  could  not  do  more 
than  affect  it ;  they  could  not  (as  they  did  in  Britain) 
change  its  language,  nor  could  they  even  greatly 
change  the  institutions. 

Well,  as  time  went  on,  the  predominance  of  these 
men,  fighting  battles  between  themselves  "  over  the 
heads  "  (as  it  were)  of  the  tillers  of  the  soil,  settling 
in   the   abandoned   villages,   intermarrying   with  the 


86  PARIS. 

Roman  nobles  and  proprietors,  continues  to  drag 
down  the  falling  civilization.  In  this  Lutetia  the 
Roman  palaces  were  the  scenes  of  their  revels ;  de- 
graded Gallo-Roman  and  new  Teutonic  chieftain  sit 
together,  drinking  on  ruder  benches  than  the  Romans 
knew,  beneath  the  half-barbarian  trophies  of  the 
Merovingian  kings.  Even  at  last  the  new-comer 
learns  (though  he  deforms)  the  tongue  of  the  con- 
quered, and  beneath  them  all  the  huge  majority,  the 
people,  go  on  at  their  servile  work,  paying  the  accus- 
tomed dues  to  the  owners  of  the  "  villse." 

The  new  garrison  (for  it  was  little  more)  brought 
with  it  no  arts,  no  memories  and  no  attachments. 
A  violent  prejudice  (brought  about  by  the  sharp 
national  differentiation  of  to-day)  has  tried  to  give 
the  Teutonic  tribes  characteristics  Avliich  all  positive 
history  denies.  They  demanded  nothing  better  than 
to  take  Roman  titles,  to  adopt  the  Roman  habits,  to 
be  absorbed  in  this  glittering  and  superior  thing, 
Rome,  not  to  prey  upon  it.  Yet,  as  we  have  said, 
they  debase  it.  Their  own  peculiar  society  disappears 
immediately;  for  a  short  Avhile  the  "mallus"*  or  meet- 
ing of  armed  men  is  held  ;  for  a  yet  shorter  time  they 
hold  to  the  vague  gods  of  the  forests  and  marshes,  and 
then  definitely  merge  in  the  vast  population  about 
them. 

*  You  get,  of  course,  a  resurrection  of  German  speech  and 
customs  with  the  advent  of  the  Austrasian  dynasty  much  later, 
but  they  do  not  affect  Gaul. 


PARIS  IN  THE  DARK  AGES.  87 

But  the  effect  of  their  conquest  is  tremendous, 
though  that  of  their  personahties  is  shght.  Order, 
security  and  one  code  of  laws — all  these  go  down, 
and  with  them  civilization  itself. 

For  three  hundred  years  the  ruin  continues.  In 
Clovis'  time  the  merchants  of  Paris  still  traded  Avith 
the  East.  Who  shall  say  what  vague  and  distorted 
conception  of  foreign  places  lay  in  the  brains  of  those 
later  traffickers  who  haunted  the  palace  doors  where 
the  "  mayors  "  kept  prisoners  the  last  feeble  descend- 
ants of  the  Merovingian  line  ! 

Paris  grows  barbarous — her  population  not  less 
dense,  but  how  lowered  in  its  standard  of  subsistence ! 
Her  walls,  her  streets,  her  churches  are  still  Roman 
(excepting  those  new  churches  and  abbeys  which  the 
new  kings  had  endowed),  but  those  walls  are  repaired 
with  clumsy  masonry  and  buttressed  here  and  there 
with  mere  rough  heaps  of  stone  ;  every  new  church 
would  show  an  architecture  more  simple  and  more 
squat  than  the  last ;  her  streets  and  public  squares 
are  filled  in  and  narrowed  with  the  private  buildings, 
which,  Avhen  government  weakens,  can  encroach  upon 
public  lands. 

To  all  this  decay  a  sudden  halt  is  given  by  the 
personality  of  Charlemagne.  He  becomes  almost  the 
saviour  of  Europe.  Nay,  he  really  saves  it,  insomuch 
that  but  for  his  efforts  Christendom  would  probably 
never  have  survived  the  evil  time  that  followed  his 
death. 


88  PARIS. 

Of  pure  Latin  stock  on  his  father's  side  (though 
we  cannot  tell,  in  these  times,  how  far  the  Teutonic 
strain  entered  through  the  mother),  he  led  the  forces 
which  still  moved  eastward  upon  the  empire.  For 
the  empire,  Avith  all  its  diseases,  yet  had  buildings 
and  land,  and,  above  all,  political  opportunities  for  the 
infinitely  less  developed  peoples  of  the  Rhine.  The 
immediate  predecessors  of  Charlemagne  conquer  the 
western  Franks  just  as  Clovis  had  conquered  the 
Gallo-Roman — not  from  any  superiority  of  courage 
or  method  of  discipline,  but  because  the  society  Avhich 
they  entered  lacked  cohesion.  Moreover,  the  method 
of  that  conquest  was  eminently  political.  The  Aus- 
trasian  "mayors"  become  the  tutors  of  the  Neustrian 
kings  after  a  decisive  battle,  and  that  is  all.  Another 
comparatively  small  war  band  comes  in  and  inherits 
another  batch  of  empty  villai,  but  the  civilization 
is  and  remains  debased  Roman. 

By  this  time  interior  paganism  has  disappeared, 
but,  on  the  other  hand,  the  heathendom  without  is 
pressing  closely  upon  the  little  island  of  Christendom. 
A  little  way  beyond  the  Rhine,  a  little  south  of  the 
Pyrenees,  the  pagan  or  the  Mussulman  limited  the 
faith. 

Charlemagne  is  heir  to  that  island  of  Christendom 
— its  necessary  defender — and  for  a  little  while  he 
re-embodies  the  ghost  of  Rome,  which  has  been  dead 
or  dying  these  three  hundred  years.  During  his  life- 
time the  old  order,  the  old  conception  of  unity  come 


PAKIS  IN  THE  DARK  AGES.  89 

bcack  into  the  now  limited  territory  of  the  empire,  and 
Avork  in  it  with  a  difficuhy  only  barely  surmounted  by 
the  superb  energy  of  the  leader.  It  is  like  the  soid 
coming  back  to  a  body  long  mummied,  or  even  falling 
to  dust. 

That  attempt  left  Paris  to  one  side.  The  city 
could  never  have  made  a  good  centre  for  a  govern- 
ment which  was  ever  on  the  march,  and  whose  main 
quarrel  lay  far  east  and  south  ;  and,  moreover,  Avith 
all  his  southern  blood  and  Roman  conceptions,  the 
Emperor  was  of  German  speech  and  clothing,  and 
Avas  more  at  home  upon  those  frontier  toAvns  of  the 
empire  Avhere  the  German  tongue  held  its  OAvn  Avith 
the  loAv  Latin.  And  thus,  though  the  great  bulk  of 
his  court  held  to  the  civilized  language  and  habits, 
Aix  Avas  his  centre,  and  he  was  buried  there. 

Paris,  save  perhaps  for  unheard  levies  of  which 
history  makes  no  mention,  does  not  enter  into  his 
plans;  a  passage  here  or  there  in  the  capitularies 
relating  to  an  abbey  or  to  a  local  custom  is  all  Ave 
can  glean  of  his  connection  Avith  the  toAvn.  The 
Thermes  are  no  longer  kingly,  and  only  the  local 
under-leader  can  hang  his  trophies  on  the  Avails  of 
the  Palace  Avhen  he  comes  back  from  Lombardy  or 
Saxony  or  Roncesvalles. 

Charlemagne's  attempt  Avas  fore-doomed  to  failure; 
he  Avas  fighting  against  the  force  of  things.  He  did 
indeed  for  his  one  long  life  maintain  with  desperate 
energy   the   order   of  the   empire,   but    even   as   he 


90  PARIS. 

marched  across  them  the  floors  of  society  shook  be- 
neath his  feet.  The  great  task  was  accomplished 
at  the  expense  of  ceaseless  wars,  a  life  spent  in  the 
saddle ;  every  man  that  was  free  to  travel  became 
familiar  with  continual  combat,  though  unable  to  turn 
it  to  the  Emperor's  majestic  ends.  Let  the  head  of 
such  an  experiment  fail  and  chaos  is  certain. 

They  say  that  as  a  very  old  man  he  saw  from  a 
southern  seaport  palace  the  distant  sails  of  the  pirates, 
and  that  he  turned  to  his  counts  and  told  them  what 
would  follow  his  death. 

What  follows  it  is  "  the  darkness  of  the  ninth  cen- 
tury." It  is  probable  that  Charlemagne's  rule  had 
given  Europe  just  the  strength  to  resist  the  onslaught; 
at  any  rate,  our  civilization  barely  escaped  destruc- 
tion. The  Mussulman,  the  Hungarian  and  the  Dane 
pour  in  like  lava  streams.  Those  invasions  were  ten 
times  worse  than  the  old  attacks  of  the  early  barba- 
rians. Then  there  had  come  small  Avar  bands,  intent 
only  on  being  admitted  to  the  pleasures  of  a  higher 
society,  and  easily  accepting  its  faith  and  habits;  but 
now  came  whole  nations,  bitterly  hating  the  wretched, 
disunited  remnants  of  what  had  once  been  Rome,  and 
especially  its  creed.  They  burnt  and  they  looted ; 
they  killed  for  the  sake  of  killing,  and  they  could  see 
nothing  worth  adopting,  in  the  base  Europe  of  their 
time,  but  the  silver  and  the  gold  of  its  churches  or 
the  rich  clothes  of  the  owners  of  its  "  villae." 

Almost  in  proportion  as  they  are  able  to  meet  the 


PARIS  IN  THE  DARK  AGES.  91 

storm,  almost  in  that  proportion  do  various  centres  of 
Europe  prosper  in  tlie  future.  We  all  know  how 
admirably  Wessex  weathered  it  under  Alfred.  Paris, 
also,  just  rides  through  it,  and  from  the  moment  of 
accomplishing  this  feat  she  enters  on  the  career  which 
only  ends  when  she  has  built  up,  with  herself  for  a 
centre,  the  kingdom  of  France. 

In  such  a  time,  which  seemed  almost  as  though  the 
end  of  the  world  had  come,  no  common  action  of 
Christendom  appeared ;  it  needed  a  Charlemagne  to 
weld  even  the  elements  of  his  time  into  great  armieo ; 
no  one  could  hope  to  do  it  fifty  or  sixty  years  after 
his  death. 

Every  group,  almost  every  town  and  village,  fought 
out  its  own  salvation  or  died  in  its  own  agony.  In 
this  chaos  the  last  vestige  of  clear  Roman  distinction 
falls,  and  everywhere  it  is  the  good  leader  who  de- 
fends the  isolated  community.  True,  it  would  be  the 
owner  of  the  "  villa,"  the  professional  soldier  or  the 
rich  man  Avho  tended  to  be  such  a  leader;  but  it  is 
accurate  to  say  that  the  extraordinary  hold  of  the 
"  noble  "  upon  the  mind — and  purse — of  Europe 
came  out  of  that  time  of  despair. 

How  many  families  can  trace  themselves  to  this 
mist  and  no  further  !  The  Angevin,  the  "  Aquitarian," 
the  Tolosian  houses  arise  from  it  5  and  so,  also,  with 
the  house  of  Paris.  The  man  to  whom  Lutetia  is 
entrusted  (or  has  fallen  a  prey)  at  this  moment  is 
the  forefather  of  the  stout  young  man  who  to-day 


92  PARIS. 

aspires  to  the  throne  of  France,  but  of  the  ancestry 
beyond  him  we  know  nothing.  He  chiims  to  be  con- 
nected with  Charlemagne,  and  that  is  alL 

The  storm  fell  on  Paris  in  the  shape  of  the  Norman 
siege,  and  the  family  that  led  the  city  out  of  this 
danger  are  destined  to  be  kings.  The  chaos,  in 
breaking  up  so  much  that  was  but  a  relic  and  a 
shadow,  had  left  standing  the  ultimate  political  re- 
alities of  Europe,  as  rocks  remain  when  a  flood 
destroys  the  buildings,  and  from  all  this  turmoil  Gaul 
re-emerges;  the  Latin  people  and  the  German  cannot 
mix  again,  and  Paris  becomes  the  historic  centre 
round  which  the  former  very  gradually  recognizes 
itself  and  grows. 

The  name  takes  substance ;  and  from  the  moment 
that  a  Capet  drives  an  Otto  over  the  place  where 
Valmy  was  to  be  fought,  France  has  begun  to  exist. 

Oh  !  if  Rome  could  have  formed  in  Italy  a  similar 
unit  round  which  a  Latin  nation  might  through  slow 
centuries  have  grown  ! 

Such  is  the  rough  sketch  of  the  line  which  her  time 
and  civilization  followed  before  the  city  was  shaken 
off,  in  the  hurricane  of  the  invasions,  to  form  an  iso- 
lated body  round  which  the  state  could  grow. 

Let  us  now  turn,  in  more  detail,  to  the  story  of  the 
kings  and  monuments  in  the  town  itself. 

The  Franks,  already,  by  the  end  of  the  fifth  cen- 
tury, in  possession  of  the  greater  part  of  northern 


PARIS  IN  THE  DARK  AGES.  93 

Gaul,  had  pushed  their  incursions  even  across  the 
Seine,  and   probably,  as   we   shall  see,   had  built   a 
block-house   where   the   Louvre  now  stands.      Then 
came  the  victory  achieved  by  Clovis  over  the  Roman 
forces   under  Syagrius,  and  it  resulted  in  the  sub- 
mission of  all  that  district  lying  between  the  Somme 
and  the  Loire  ;   so,  about  the  year  496,  Paris  came 
under  the  Frankish  rule,  and  the  sharp  differentiation 
of  the  "langue  d'oil"  was  begun.     During  the  years 
that  innnediately  followed  his  conquest,  Clovis,  occu- 
pied in  extending  and  strengthening  his  new  empire, 
had  no  fixed  place  of  residence;  but  it  is  certain  that, 
at  the  time  Avhen  he  determined  upon  the  expulsion 
of  the   Visigoths    from   the    southern    provinces    of 
Gaul,  he  had   established   himself  at  Paris.      Clovis 
had  married  Clotilde,  who  was  a  niece  of  Gondeband, 
the  King  of  Burgundy;  this  marriage  did  much  to 
reconcile  the  native  population  to  their  new  ruler,  for 
Clotilde  was  a  Catholic,  while  Gondeband  and  Alaric, 
King  of  the  Visigoths,  were  both  Arians,  and  thus  at 
issue  with  the  Catholic  Bishops,  who  were  the  last 
relic  of  the  official  empire,  and  Avhose  influence,  there- 
fore, over  the  Gallo-Romans  was  very  great.     Every 
one  knows  the  picturesque  story  of  Clovis'  vow  to 
become  a  Christian  if  the  battle  turned  in  his  favor. 
As  a  fact,  all  over  Europe,  Christianity,  the  official 
religion  of  civilization,  easily  absorbed  the  new  tribes, 
Avho  wished  nothing  more  than  to  be  what  Rome  had 
been.      Clovis    was    baptized    with    great    pomp    by 


94  PARIS. 

Saint  Remi,  Bishop  of  Rhcims,  on  Christmas  day, 
496.  Gregory  of  Tours  quotes  what  purports  to  be 
the  phrase  Avhich  tlie  Roman  bishop  used  to  the 
tribal  chief;  it  has  a  fine  refrain:  "Bow  the  head 
down,  Sicambrian."  In  truth,  the  spirit  of  the  em- 
pire easily  bowed  down  those  barbarians'  heads,  who 
loved  to  submit  to  its  idea  and  its  superb  traditions. 
Clovis'  sister  and  a  whole  army  of  Franks  were  bap- 
tized at  the  same  time. 

There  is  a  letter  often  quoted  as  having  been 
written  by  Pope  Anastasius  on  this  occasion,  but  it 
has  been  recently  shown  to  be  a  forgery,  probably  of 
the  eighteenth  century;  an  authentic  letter  of  con- 
gratulation, however,  written  by  Saint  Avitus,  Arch- 
bishop of  Vienne,  and  the  most  prominent  ecclesiastic 
in  Gaul  at  that  day,  shows  the  importance  attached 
to  the  conversion  of  Clovis.  After  lengthy  con- 
gratulations, the  official  assures  the  Barbarian  that 
the  Church  watches  his  career,  and  that  every  battle 
waged  by  him  now  is  a  victory  for  her.  Clovis 
began  the  erection  of  a  church  on  the  Mons  Lucote- 
tius  dedicated  to  Saints  Peter  and  Paul,  and  called 
the  Church  of  the  Apostles.  Saiute  Genevieve  was 
buried  there,  and,  as  Ave  shall  see  later,  it  took  her 
name.  He  lived  in  the  Palais  des  Thermos,  which  he 
decorated  with  trophies  of  his  numerous  Avars,  some  of 
his  successors  foUoAving  his  example.  Dying  in  511, 
he  was  interred  in  the  Church  of  the  Apostles,  Avhich, 
already  far  advanced,  was  completed  by  his  AvidoAv. 


PARIS  IN  THE  DARK  AGES.  95 

When  the  kingdom  of  Paris,  in  the  division  made 
of  Clovis'  possessions  among  his  sons,  fell  to  the 
share  of  Childebert,  the  long  list  of  crimes  and  con- 
fused plots  wliich  is  the  Avhole  story  of  the  Merovin- 
gians, begins.  Thus,  this  Childehert  is  the  accomplice, 
if  not  the  actual  instigator,  of  the  murder  of  two  of 
his  young  nephews,  heirs  to  the  Kingdom  of  Orleans. 
The  third,  Clodoald,  took  refuge  in  a  hermitage  near 
Paris,  and  was  canonized.  St.  Cloud  is  the  spot 
named  from  him.  The  See  of  Paris  being  vacant, 
Childebert  appointed  Saint  German  to  it,  and,  again 
an  example  of  the  official  meeting  the  Barbarian,  he 
ff\lls  under  the  influence  of  that  holy  man,  at  whose 
instigation  he  built  the  Church  of  Ste.  Croix  and 
St.  Vincent  (the  present  Church  of  St.  Germain 
des  Pres)  for  the  reception  of  the  stole  of  Saint  Vin- 
cent and  a  golden  cross  wdiich  had  been  brought  from 
Spain.  We  still  have  Saint  Germain's  signature 
affixed  to  the  Acts  of  the  Fourth  Council  of  Paris, 
and  it  is  w^orth  quoting  ;  it  is :  "  Germain,  sinner,  and 
— though  all  unworthy — Bishop  of  Paris,  in  the  name 
of  Jesus  Christ."  Dying  in  558,  Childebert  was 
succeeded  by  his  brother,  Clotaire;  and  this,  by  the 
way,  was  the  first  recorded  operation  of  the  Salic 
law,  his  daughters  being  excluded  from  the  throne. 
The  regular  Merovingian  episode  occurred.  Violent 
discussions  broke  out  among  the  four  sons  of  Clotaire. 
Sigebert,  to  whose  share  had  fallen  the  Kingdom  of 
Metz,  or  Austrasia, — practically,  the  German-s])eak- 


96  PAEIS. 

ing  government, — overran  the  country  surrounding 
Paris,  and  burned  the  -wooden  parts  of  the  capital. 
The  brothers,  recognizing  the  advantage  which  the 
possession  of  Paris  would  give  to  any  one  of  them, 
had  agreed,  on  their  father's  death,  to  enjoy  equal 
rights  in  it.  Chilperic,  however,  had  broken  this 
pact,  and  on  various  occasions  had  stayed  in  the 
capital  and  performed  official  acts  there. 

A  series  of  misfortunes  then  fell  upon  the  city. 
First,  there  was  an  inundation,  due  to  a  rising  of  the 
Seine,  in  583, — probably  an  example  of  how  the  old 
Roman  work  in  the  river  was  falling  into  decay.  It 
did  much  damage,  and  in  the  midst  of  this  misery 
the  inhabitants  suffered  still  more  from  the  disorderly 
conduct  of  the  troops  brought  hither  by  Chilperic; 
and  when  that  prince  added  a  new  form  of  oppression 
to  his  other  acts  of  tyranny,  the  public  discontent 
almost  reached  the  point  of  revolt.  Rigon,  the  king's 
daughter,  was  married  to  a  son  of  the  king  of  the 
Visigoths,  and  her  father  forced  a  number  of  families 
to  accompany  her  to  Spain.  Gregory  of  Tours 
gives  a  vivid  description  of  the  misery  caused  by 
this  oppressive  measure,  as  well  as  of  the  violent 
means  adopted  by  Chilperic  in  order  to  enforce  it. 
During  these  calamities  the  commercial  prosperity, 
with  every  other  sign  of  civilization,  was  rapidly 
declining.  In  the  reign  of  Clovis  we  are  told  that 
there  were  merchants  in  Paris  Avho  travelled  to  Syria, 
where   they   purchased    silks   and   ivory   and   costly 


PARIS  I>^  THE  DARK  AGES.  97 

materials  ;  a  number  of  these  men  had  accumulated 
large  fortunes.  In  the  time  of  Chilperic  one  of  the 
squares  of  the  city,  called  the  "  Merchants'  Square," 
was  surrounded  by  the  houses  of  merchants  and 
traders  whose  shops  were  filled  with  jewelry,  silver- 
plate  and  all  sorts  of  carved  metal-work,  and  per- 
fumes, but  the  foreign  merchandise  was  less  no- 
ticeable. The  Paris  tradesmen  had  just  at  the  close 
of  the  Roman  dominion  extended  their  business  even 
into  Egypt ;  in  a  couple  of  hundred  years  Egypt 
was  a  name. 

Clotaire  had  a  son  and  successor,  Chilperic,  of 
whose  reign  the  principal  matter  of  note  for  Paris 
is  a  fire  in  which  nearly  all  the  private  buildings 
on  the  He  de  la  Cite  were  destroyed.  Dago- 
bert  was  the  next  king,  and  he  has  left  a  very  pow- 
erful impression  on  the  folk-lore  of  the  country, — 
evidently  a  ruler  under  whom  Paris  enjoyed  compara- 
tive prosperity,  and  occupied  a  position  of  political  im- 
portance, the  capital  of  a  powerful  northern  kingdom 
the  various  provinces  of  which  were  now  united 
under  one  crown.  By  the  advice  of  Saint  Eloi,  who 
was  Bishop  of  Noyon,  and  his  constant  counsellor, 
Dagobert  built  the  church  and  abbey  of  St.  Martial 
in  the  Cite.  His  successor  is  Clovis  II.,  and  with 
him  begins  that  line  of  decadent  sovereigns  who  fall 
more  and  more  under  the  power  of  their  ministers, 
the  "mayors  of  the  Palace."  In  this  decline  of  the 
dynasty  the  royal  authority   was  only  nominally  in 

7 


98  PAKIS. 

the  hands  of  a  succession  of  degenerate  men  who 
passed  their  time  shut  up  in  their  great  manors  on 
the  banks  of  the  Oise,  or  seen  now  and  then  by  the 
people  wandering  from  place  to  place  in  ox-drawn 
carts.  The  whole  story  reads  like  a  legend  of  primi- 
tive folk.  We  are  very  far  indeed  from  the  splendors 
of  Rome. 

The  rule  of  Charlemagne,  of  whose  spirit  we  have 
given  a  very  brief  summary  in  the  beginning  of  this 
chapter,  passed  without  incident  for  the  city  of  Paris. 
As  we  have  said  above,  he  was  neither  by  training 
nor  by  the  nature  of  his  constant  warfare  fitted  to 
settle  down  in  the  old  Merovingian  capital ;  and  if  we 
wish  to  get  an  accurate  picture  of  how  Paris  fared 
during  the  sixty  years  or  so  between  his  accession 
and  the  first  of  the  Norman  troubles,  it  may  best  be 
put  as  follows: 

After  the  gradual  decay  of  society  which  had 
marked  the  Merovingian  decline,  the  men  of  local 
eminence  had,  of  course,  assumed  a  preponderance 
far  greater  than  the  strong  and  united  law  of  the 
Roman  world  would  have  allowed;  added  to  this 
was  the  Teutonic  sentiment  of  an  exclusive  and 
almost  sacred  aristocratic  class — "The  Sons  of  Odin." 
Those  two  forces  between  them  tended  to  the  estab- 
lishment of  that  personal  local  rule  which  we  call 
feudalism,  but  the  full  system  was  not  yet  by  any 
means  affirmed.  Charlemagne,  with  his  vigorous 
Roman    conceptions    and    imperial    methods,    rudely 


PARIS  IN  THE  DARK  AGES.  99 

disturbs  it;  in  many  places  (not  in  all,  be  it  remem- 
bered) his  "counts"  are  real  "comites/' — personal 
followers  that  is,  whom  he  appoints  for  life  only,  to 
local  governorships. 

With  his  death,  however,  in  the  general  dissolution, 
individual  men  found  families  which  are  the  hered- 
itary leaders  of  particular  districts  and  towns.  One 
such  family  inherited  or  acquired  Paris,  and  it  is  the 
story  of  their  action  during  the  barbarian  siege  which 
we  are  about  to  describe  that  explains  hoAV  they  be- 
came later  the  kings  of  France. 

Although  these  Norman  invasions  began  as  early 
as  the  time  of  Charlemagne,  Paris,  owing  to  her  pro- 
tected position,  escaped  for  nearly  fifty  years.  In 
845,  however,  a  fleet  appeared  at  the  mouth  of  the 
Seine,  and,  after  pillaging  Rouen,  proceeded  up  as 
far  as  St.  Cloud;  after  ravaging  the  city,  they  w'ere 
bought  off,  and  returned,  laden  with  booty  and  an 
enormous  ransom,  to  encourage  their  countrymen  to 
similar  enterprises.  Consequently,  in  861,  and  again 
four  or  five  years  later,  other  fleets  appeared  before 
Paris.  The  second  one  met  with  less  success,  for 
Charles  the  Bald,  stung  to  attempting  some  sort  of 
resistance,  managed  to  cut  ofi"  their  retreat,  and 
forced  them  to  surrender,  to  give  up  their  booty  and 
leave  the  country.  Some  years  later  a  detachment 
of  only  two  hundred  men  left  their  companions  at  the 
mouth  of  the  Seine  and  boldly  advanced  nearly  as 
far  as  Paris  for  the  purpose  of  demanding  a  supply 


100  PARIS. 

of  wine  and  provisions.  The  account  goes  on  to  say 
that  they  returned  without  any  booty,  but  whether 
because  they  were  repulsed  or  because  there  was 
none  is  not  stated. 

An  expedition  in  the  spring  of  867  came  only  as 
far  as  St.  Denis,  and  confined  itself  to  raiding  the 
immediate  neighborhood.  It  is  supposed  that  they 
were  afraid  to  attack  Paris  because  of  the  Grand 
Pont,  which,  although  unfinished,  already  acted  as  a 
considerable  barrier.  About  this  time  the  Parisians, 
seeing  that  they  would  have  to  adopt  entirely  new 
means  of  defence,  built  some  sort  of  fortifications  on 
the  spots  where  the  Grand  and  Petit  Chatelet  stood 
later,  in  addition  to  which  Charles  the  Bald  erected 
a  strong  fortress  at  Pistres,  to  protect  the  approach 
to  Paris  from  down  the  stream. 

Robert  the  Strong,  great-grandfather  of  Hugh 
Capet,  was  given  the  government  of  the  Duchy  of 
France — that  is,  the  country  lying  between  the  Seine 
and  the  Loire.  Under  his  vigorous  and  decided  ride 
the  Normans  were  driven  back,  and  Paris  having 
strengthened  her  defences,  little  or  no  apprehension 
was  felt  as  far  as  the  English  channel  was  concei'ned. 
It  was,  however,  from  the  barbarians  of  the  East  and 
North  that  she  was  to  sustain  the  siege  of  885,  of 
which  historians  have  given  so  many  details.  Abbo, 
a  monk  of  St.  Germain  des  Pres,  a  contemporary, 
wrote  an  epic  of  twelve  hmidred  verses  on  it. 

An  act  of  treachery  on  the  part  of  Charles  le  Gros 


PAKIS  IN  THE  DAEK  AGES.  101 

was  the  immediate  cause  of  this  invasion  of  the  North- 
men. Godfrey  having  been  1-ured  to  an  island  in  the 
Rhine  and  there  murdered,  his  kinsman,  Sigfried, 
raised  an  army  of  forty  thousand  men  and  marched 
through  Picardy,  burning  and  ravaging  as  they  went. 
At  Pontoise,  which  they  captured,  they  were  rein- 
forced by  a  fleet  of  seven  hundred  ships.  Sigfried's 
demand  to  be  allowed  to  pass  Paris  having  been  re- 
fused by  Gozlin,  preparations  for  the  siege  were  at 
once  begun,  while  Paris,  on  the  other  hand,  put  her- 
self in  a  state  of  defense.  The  forerunner  of  the 
Grand  Chatelet  was  finished  and  a  garrison  placed 
there,  as  well  as  in  the  tower  that  guarded  the  ap- 
proach to  the  small  wooden  bridge  on  the  south. 

Odo,  Robert  the  Strong's  son,  and  King  of  France 
later,  was  then  Count  of  Paris.  He  gathered  about 
him  his  brother  Robert,  grandfather  of  Hugh  Capet ; 
Count  Ragenaire,  who  had  just  carried  on  a  long 
struggle  with  the  Normans  at  Pontoise;  Hascheim, 
brother  of  the  Count  of  Meaux ;  the  Abbot  Hugh, 
the  Marquis  of  Anjou,  and  a  host  of  warlike  lords  of 
the  Duchy  of  France  and  Neustria.  The  siege  was, 
therefore,  conducted  almost  entirely  by  Latin-speaking 
lords  ;  it  was,  moreover,  Paris  defending  itself  against 
a  foreign  enemy  ;  the  king — utterly  ineffectual — did 
not  enter  into  the  question. 

On  the  25th  of  November,  885,  Sigfried  and  RoUo 
— he  who  was  Duke  of  Normandy  later  on — appeared 
before  Paris  with  a  large  force.      By  the  following 


102  PAEIS. 

day  they  had  set  up  niaiigonelles  for  hiirHng  javelins 
or  combustible  material  into  the  city;  had  erected 
covered  ways  of  approach  to  protect  the  besiegers 
and  allow  them  to  approach  close  to  the  walls,  and 
towers  to  which  they  proposed  setting  fire.  Fire- 
ships  Avere  floated  on  the  Seine,  against  the  bridges 
and  the  houses  along  its  banks,  closely  followed  by 
boats  loaded  with  men  armed  with  slings,  bows  and 
javelins,  who  kept  the  towns-people  from  flying  to 
the  defence  of  the  threatened  buildings. 

The  first  and  most  violent  of  the  assaults  was  car- 
ried on  in  regular  medieval  fashion.  Unlike  former 
barbarian  invasions,  it  had  all  the  apparatus  of  a 
mediaeval  siege — ^its  towers,  catapults,  etc.  It  reads 
like  any  of  the  assaults  of  the  next  four  hundred 
years — the  siege  of  Jerusalem  itself. 

The  first  attack  repulsed,  the  besiegers  next  tried 
to  starve  out  the  town.  Count  Eudes  took  advan- 
tage of  this  respite  to  establish  such  order  and  dis- 
cipline in  the  city  as  would  serve  to  protect  it  better 
than  any  ramparts.  The  Bishop — Gozlin — not  con- 
tent with  merely  exhorting  the  people,  appeared  be- 
fore them  casque  on  head,  and,  armed  with  a  bow  and 
an  axe,  planted  a  cross  on  the  outer  defences,  while 
his  nephew,  Ebles,  a  man  of  enormous  physical 
strength,  fought  beside  him,  exciting  the  enemy  to 
attack  him  and  pursuing  them  to  their  trenches. 

The  Scandinavian  cavalry  having  returned,  and 
there  being  danger  that  reinforcements  for  the  be- 


PARIS  IN  THE  DARK  AGES.  103 

sieged  might  arrive  at  any  moment,  the  Norman 
leader  determined  upon  a  general  assault.  This  at- 
tempt was  even  more  unsuccessful  than  the  preced- 
ing ones.  Feigned  attacks  were  made  at  various 
places,  but  the  real  point  of  attack  was  the  Great 
Tower.  Count  Eudes  divided  his  men  into  three 
parts.  Two  were  given  the  defence  of  the  bridges, 
and  the  third,  which  he  commanded  himself,  was  shut 
up  in  the  Great  Tower. 

The  siege  dragged  slowly  on.  Skirmishes  and 
single  combats  were  of  daily  occurrence.  In  these  the 
defenders  yielded  nothing  in  courage  or  vigor  to 
their  adversaries.  The  latter  being,  however,  more 
dextrous  in  handling  their  arms,  the  advantage  usu- 
ally remained  with  them.  At  last  an  event  occurred 
that  threw  the  city  into  consternation. 

In  February  heavy  rains  swelled  the  Seine  and 
caused  an  overflow.  The  Parisians  hailed  this  with 
delight,  as  it  promised  to  give  them  an  advantage 
and  to  shelter  them  from  the  enemy.  But  the  Nor- 
mans in  attempting  to  fill  in  the  small  branch  of  the 
river  south  of  the  city  had  choked  it  with  fagots 
and  earth,  with  the  bodies  of  horses,  oxen,  and  it  was 
even  said  soldiers  who  had  been  slain,  and  of  pris- 
oners. The  water,  thus  impeded  in  its  course,  swept 
violently  against  the  piles  of  the  small  wooden  bridge 
leading  to  the  left  bank  ;  these  ])rescntly  gave  way, 
leaving  the  tower  of  the  fortress  called  hiter  the  Petit- 
Chatelet  cut  off  from  the   city,  and  hemmed  in  on 


104  PAEIS. 

one  side  by  the  river  and  on  the  other  by  the  detach- 
ment of  the  enemy  stationed  at  the  foot  of  Mont  Ste. 
Genevieve. 

At  the  sight  of  this  disaster  a  cry  of  dismay  went 
up  from  Paris,  so  loud  as  fairly  to  drown  the  joyous 
shouts  of  the  Normans.  The  defenders  of  the  tower 
were  summoned  to  surrender,  but  this  they  proudly 
refused  to  do,  although  numbering  but  a  dozen,  and  a 
mere  handful  of  men,  they  held  out  until  they  were 
overpowered  by  the  enemy.  Eleven  were  killed,  but 
Herve,  whom  the  chroniclers  describe  as  being  of 
great  beauty,  tall,  well-made,  and  richly  dressed,  was 
taken  prisoner,  the  Normans  supposing  him  to  be  a 
great  noble  and  hoping  for  a  large  ransom  ;  but  they 
were  disappointed,  for  lie  got  loose  from  his  captors, 
and  seizing  a  sword,  sold  his  life  dearly.  The  tower 
was  razed  to  the  ground,  but  its  destruction  hardly 
compensated  for  the  heavy  losses  of  the  Normans  on 
that  day. 

Historians  state  that  the  besieged  expected  from 
day  to  day  to  see  the  imperial  army  niarching  to 
their  relief.  "  It  becomes  known,"  says  one  of  them, 
"  that  Count  Eudes  has  left  for  Metz  secretly  ;  the 
bourgeois  believe  they  have  been  deserted  ;  the  only 
gate  of  Paris  is  guarded  by  the  Normans,  so  that  no 
one  can  get  in,  and  Eudes  will  be  stopped  if  he  at- 
tempts to  return  to  the  city." 

Just  as  they  began  to  fear  that  they  would  have 
to  treat  with  the   enemy  the   Count  of  Paris  reap- 


PAEIS  IN  THE  DAKK  AGES.  105 

peared,  with  the  news  that  he  had  wrung  from  the 
Emperor  promise  of  a  speedy  relief,  mider  the  com- 
mand of  Henry  of  Bavaria. 

Taking  advantage,  one  day,  of  a  part  of  the  besieg- 
ing force  having  gone  off  to  plunder  in  the  neighbor- 
ing districts,  a  sortie  Avas  attempted,  under  cover  of 
which  some  reinforcements  and  provisions  were  intro- 
duced into  the  city.  The  Parisians  began  to  take 
courage ;  six  months  had  elapsed  and  the  Normans 
were  no  nearer  their  end  than  on  the  first  day.  Sig- 
fried  became  discouraged  and  asked  to  treat. 

An  interview  was  arranged  between  him  and 
Eudes,  but  the  latter  suspected  treason.  It  had 
been  agreed  that  each  was  to  go  entirely  alone  to 
a  spot  equally  distant  from  the  outposts  of  both 
armies ;  but  while  the  negotiations  Avere  in  progress 
Eudes  either  saw,  or  thought  he  saw,  some  of  the 
enemy's  soldiers  creeping  forward  under  cover  of  the 
trenches  and  inequalities  of  the  ground,  and,  fearing 
that  he  would  be  surrounded,  he  broke  off  the  con- 
ference. 

It  was  with  the  Abbot  of  St.  Germain  des  Pres 
that  a  treaty  was  concluded  ;  Sigfried  offered  to  retire 
on  receipt  of  a  heavy  ransom.  To  refuse  would  have 
meant  the  pillage  and  ruin  of  this  abbey,  as  it  was 
poorly  garrisoned  and  its  situation  outside  of  the  citv 
put  it  at  the  mercy  of  the  invaders. 

Henry  of  Bavaria  was  kUled  in  bringing  the  rein- 
forcements,  and   Charles   le    Gros   thereupon   deter- 


106  PARIS. 

mined  himself  to  go  to  the  relief  of  Paris  at  the  head 
of  quite  a  large  army. 

This  prince,  who  owed  his  croAvn  wholly  to  the 
blind  partiality  and  trust  with  which  the  French 
people  regarded  this  degenerate  inheritor  of  the  name 
of  Charlemagne,  appeared  upon  the  heights  of  Mont- 
martre.  Pitching  his  camp  in  this  advantageous 
position,  he  might  well  have  afforded  to  await  a 
favorable  moment  to  annihilate  the  besieging  army. 
But  he  had  probably  counted  upon  his  mere  appear- 
ance in  the  neighborhood  to  drive  them  off,  for  when 
he  found  that  they  showed  no  signs  of  retreating  the 
cowardly  prince  opened  negotiations,  preferring  that 
means  of  getting  rid  of  them  to  a  pitched  battle. 
The  residt  was  a  shameful  treaty  by  which  the  Nor- 
mans were  not  only  to  receive  a  large  sum  of  money, 
but  to  be  allowed  to  occupy  Burgundy  and  Cham- 
pagne until  the  entire  amount  of  this  species  of  tribute 
had  been  paid. 

The  Parisians  meanwhile,  left  to  themselves,  kept 
their  gates  shut,  refused  to  agree  to  the  terms  of  the 
treaty,  and  harassed  the  retreating  forces  of  the 
enemy,  obliging  them  to  drag  their  boats  overland  as 
far  as  the  Marne  in  order  to  reach  Champagne.  In 
the  following  year  Count  Eudes  marched  against  the 
Normans  and  drove  them  out  of  that  province ;  he 
came  upon  them  between  Verdun,  Stenay  and  Mont- 
medy,  and  forced  them  to  retreat  into  the  forest  of 
Montfaucon.      Eudes  was    nearly  killed  in  the  on- 


PARIS  IN  THE  DARK  AGES.  107 

slaught,  but  the  rout  of  the  Normans  was  so  com- 
]>lete  that  only  a  verj  small  remnant  of  their  army, 
by  taking  refuge  in  the  forest  of  Ardennes,  was  ena- 
bled to  regain  northern  Germany. 

Thus  the  Carlovingian  dynasty  had  proved  hope- 
lessly incapable  not  a  century  after  the  death  of  its 
founder.  One  of  the  most  important  towns  of  the 
Empire  had  been  left  practically  to  defend  itself,  and 
the  local  lord  who  had  done  it,  and  his  house,  are 
marked  for  the  local  kingship  on  the  break-up  of  the 
Empire. 

When  Charles  le  Gros  was  deposed  after  the  siege 
of  885,  the  family  of  Eudes,  Count  of  Paris,  became 
the  practical  rulers  of  the  duchy  of  France.  Count 
Robert  fought  with  and  defeated  the  forces  of  Charles 
the  Simple,  and  was  succeeded  by  his  son  and 
grandson. 

In  978  the  Emperor  Otto,  who  was  at  war  with  the 
Carlovingian  Lothaire,  appeared  on  the  heights  of 
Montmartre  with  an  army  of  60,000  men.  Here, 
with  a  mystical  spirit  thoroughly  German,  they  in- 
toned the  Te  Deum  on  the  summit  of  the  hill  and 
retreated,  either  afraid  to  undertake  a  siege  or  driven 
off  by  Hugh  Capet,  Count  of  Paris.  Nine  years 
later  Hugh  was  declared  King  of  France  and  the  Car- 
lovingian dynasty  closed.  In  the  first  generation  in 
the  succeeding  century,  that  is  till  about  1030,  the 
history  of  Paris  contains  nothing  of  moment.  We 
will  make   this   point  the  end  of  our  sketch  of  the 


108  PAETS. 

Dark  Ages  and  turn  to  the  changes  which  Paris  has 
seen  in  its  buildings  during  these  500  years. 

We  have  seen  that  under  the  Romans  Lutetia  be- 
came a  municipahty  with  a  prefect,  who  later  on  took 
the  title  of  count.  This  prefect,  who  represented 
the  central  power,  lived  without  doubt  on  the  island, 
whose  name,  la  Cite,  is  proof  of  the  municipal  gov- 
ernment of  Gallo-Roman  Paris ;  and  the  present 
Palais  de  Justice  stands  on  the  spot  once  occupied 
by  this  first  municipal  building,  at  once  palace  and 
prefecture,  remains  of  which  have  been  found  in  the 
course  of  various  excavations. 

Some  authorities  think  the  Emperor  Julian  lived 
here,  and  not  in  the  Palais  des  Thermes.  M.  Four- 
nier  argues  that  the  allusions  to  the  Seine  in  the 
Mlsopogon  could  not  have  been  made  had  he  been 
writing  in  the  Thermes  ;  he  speaks  of  seeing  pieces 
of  ice  floating  down  the  stream  ;  says  that  Lutetia  is 
supplied  with  water  by  the  Seine,  and  that  the  cold 
in  his  rooms  was  intense,  the  only  means  of  heating 
them  being  the  stoves,  the  coals  of  which  nearly 
asphyxiated  him ;  none  of  wliich  remarks  apply  to 
the  Palais  des  Thermes,  situated  some  distance  from 
the  river,  and  supplied  Avith  complete  heating  appa- 
ratus and  plenty  of  pure  water. 

The  first  revolution  that  took  place  in  Paris  broke  out 
in  the  square  in  front  of  the  Palais  de  I'Isle,  when  the 
legions  whom  Constantius  had  ordered  to  the  east 
revolted  and  proclaimed  Julian  Caesar  Augustus. 


PARIS  IN  THE  DARK  AGES.  109 

"  To  find  the  next  instance,"  says  Chateaubriand, 
"  of  an  Emperor  being  proclaimed  in  Paris  we  must 
pass  from  JuHan  to  Napoleon." 

When  this  palace  Avas  enlarged,  a  small  chapel, 
dedicated  to  Saint  Michel,  Avas  built  into  it,  and  thus 
preserved  until  the  present  day,  having  only  been 
pulled  down  in  1847  in  order  to  carry  on  the  fagade 
begun  under  Louis  XVI. 

Dagobert  lived  in  the  Palais  de  la  Cite,  following 
the  example  of  most  of  the  Prankish  kings  Avho  had 
preceded  him.  They  thought  that  it  helped  to  estab- 
lish their  right  to  the  throne  to  live  in  the  palace  of 
the  Roman  Csesars.  We  ha\'e  no  certain  proof  that 
CloA'is  lived  there,  but  his  sons  Clotaire  and  Childebert 
did,  and  it  is  supposed  that  the  murder  of  their  tAvo 
young  nephcAvs  took  place  there.  Although  Childe- 
bert is  said  to  have  had  a  horror  of  the  place  after 
this,  and  to  have  gone  elscAvhere  to  live,  the  Palais 
de  la  Cite  continued  after  his  day  to  be  the  residence 
of  the  kings  of  France.  When  Count  Eudes  strength- 
ened and  fortified  Paris  the  Palais  Avas  almost  rebuilt, 
losing  the  look  of  a  royal  residence, — a  basilica  A\'hich 
it  had  worn  under  the  Romans  and  Merovingians,  and 
taking  on  the  form  of  a  square  fortification,  something 
like  the  first  Louvre,  Avith  the  additional  advantage  of 
the  tower  at  the  extremity  of  the  island  to  act  as  an 
outer  defence.  The  Counts  of  Paris  continued  to  make 
the  "New  Palace,"  as  it  Avas  called,  the  royal  residence, 
and  it  Avas  only  finally  abandoned  for  the  Louvre. 


110  PARIS. 

AA'as  tlie  building  of  the  municipality,  Avherc  the 
affairs  of  the  government  were  conducted  by  a  chosen 
body,  also  on  the  island  ?  It  seems  most  probable, 
but  at  the  other  end,  close  to  where  the  Corporation 
of  the  Nautse  had  erected  their  altar  in  the  reign  of 
Tiberius.  That  altar  was  demolished  when  Christianity 
Avas  established  in  Paris,  and  the  huge  stones  of  which 
it  was  built  buried,  in  order  to  erect  a  Christian  church 
in  its  place  ;  they  have  been  found  beneath  the  choir 
of  Notre  Dame,  and  it  is  likely  that  the  principal 
establishment  of  this  powerful  association,  the  real 
centre  of  the  municipality,  Avas  not  far  distant. 
These  river  tradesmen  would  naturally  have  placed 
their  "  College  "  on  the  water,  and  on  that  side  where 
the  stream  is  widest  and  most  navigable ;  and,  as  a 
matter  of  fact,  in  the  seventeenth  century,  the  spot 
pointed  out  as  having  been  occupied  by  the  first 
Hotel  de  Yille  of  Paris,  Avhich  means  the  same  thing 
as  the  "  College  "  of  the  Nautse,  was  that  on  which 
the  great  Hotel  des  ITrsins  stood  later,  in  the  line  of 
the  present  Rues  Basse  and  Milieu  des  Ursins. 

This  tradition  is  supported  by  a  passage  in  Greg- 
ory of  TourSj  where  he  speaks  of  a  sort  of  perma- 
nent fair  which  had  been  held  in  front  of  the  prin- 
cipal church  from  the  time  of  Chilperic,  as  it  is 
quite  certain  that  the  "  bureau  "  of  the  Nautse  would 
not  have  been  far  from  this  fair,  and  would  also  have 
stood  somewhere  between  the  bridge  and  their  land- 
ing-place, that  is  right  on  this  spot;  for  the  first  bridge 


PAEIS  IN  THE  DARK  AGES.  Ill 

of  Lutetia  Avas  not  the  Pont  an  Change,  but  the  bridge 
of  Notre  Dame,  much  nearer  the  centre  of  the  island. 
Finally,  the  remains  of  a  large  Roman  building  have 
been  found  there  in  the  present  century. 

Just  opposite  was  the  Place  de  Greve,  about  which, 
during  the  middle  ages,  there  is  practically  nothing 
to  be  said :  it  probably  continued  to  be  a  landing- 
place.  Of  its  enormous  importance  during  the  Revo- 
lution this  book  wiU  treat  later. 

The  sole  port  of  Gallo-Roman  Paris,  the  port  of 
St.  Landry,  was  on  the  north-east  side  of  the  Island 
of  the  City,  where  it  is  nearest  to  the  island  of  St. 
Louis  ;  it  was  gradually  encroached  upon  more  and 
more  by  the  neighboring  buildings  until  it  was  finally 
swallowed  up  in  the  Quai  Napoleon.  A  square  tower 
built  into  the  walls  of  a  house  in  the  Rue  Chanoin- 
esse,*  which  goes  by  the  name  of  King  Dagobert's 
Tower,  though  it  probably  only  dates  from  the  fif- 
teenth century,  marks  the  site  of  the  ancient  port. 

At  the  time  of  the  Norman  invasion  the  Nautse 
moved  their  "  College "  across  the  island,  near  the 
Petit-Pont,  on  the  smaller  arm  of  the  Seine,  that 
being  a  more  protected  spot  and  less  open  to  attack 
from  the  barbarians  who  came  up  the  river.  Just 
here  the  fortress  called  the  Petit  Chatelet  stood  later. 

The  course  of  the  terrible  fire  of  1718  was  blocked 
by  a  huge  mass  of  masonry  on  the  bank  between  the 

*  No.  18,  belonging  to  M.  Aley. 


112  PARIS. 

Marche  Neuf  and  the  Petit-Pont,  -which  went  by  the 
local  name  of  "  I'Ancien  Hotel  de  Ville/'  or,  more 
common  still,  "  I'Hotel  de  Ville  du  roi  Pepin." 

We  have  spoken  of  the  Petit  Chatelet;  was  the 
Grand  Chatelet  in  existence  imder  Charles  le  Chauve? 
In  Abbo's  poem  on  the  siege  of  885,  mention  is 
made  of  a  tower  or  fortress  Avhich  guarded  either  the 
Grand-Pont,  called  later  tlie  Pont  Notre-Dame,  or 
another  further  down  the  stream,  built,  according  to 
some,  entirely  of  wood,  while  others  say  the  lower 
part  was  of  stone  ;  all  of  this  is  very  vague,  and  it 
is  not  until  1149  that  we  have  any  definite  mention 
of  the  Chatelet,  though  it  certainly  was  then  a  cen- 
tury and  a  half  old.  A  Latin  document  of  Louis 
le  Jeune's  time  speaks  of  it  and  of  the  shambles 
lying  either  to  the  north  or  the  south — " Inter  domum 
Carnifiimi  et  regis  Castclluciumy  The  term  ^^ regis 
Castellncium  "  suggests  to  Dulaure  the  idea  that  this 
building  of  wood  or  stone  was  put  up  by  the  king 
who  preceded  Louis  le  Grqs,  and  that  under  his  son, 
Louis  VII.,  it  was  already  occupied  by  the  Grand- 
Prevot. 

Before  leaving  the  right  bank  of  the  river  let  us  see 
what  stamp  this  age  set  upon  a  district  lying  a  little 
below  the  island.  Nowhere  do  we  find  so  many  names 
of  Teutonic  origin  as  in  this  corner  of  the  suburbs  of 
Paris.  AVe  have,  for  instance,  two  villages  whose 
names  are  entirely  German,  Stein  or  Stain,  and  two 
called  Francon ville,  "  Francorum  Villa,"  as  it  is  writ- 


PARIS  IN  THE  DARK  AGES.  113 

ten  in  the  old  charts ;  near  the  one  above  Argenteuil 
there  stood  until  the  last  century  "  the  Castle  of 
Mail,"  or  of  MdhJ,  a  word  which,  in  the  language  of 
the  Franks,  meant  a  meeting-place.  Ermonvillej 
"Ermenoldi  Villa,"  says  Abbe  Le  Beuf,  "bears  a 
Teutonic  or  Frankish  name."  It  is  the  same  with 
Coye,  derived  from  the  Saxon  "  Cote,"  meaning  cot- 
tage, and  with  the  village  of  Piscot,  above  Montmor- 
ency, which  the  will  of  Saint  Remy  shows  to  have 
been  a  name  of  Frankish  origin. 

The  etymology  of  the  name  of  the  village  of 
Vemars,  which  Abbe  Le  Beuf  made  such  eiforts  to 
trace  without  success,  is  still  more  significant.  Except 
for  the  speUing  it  is  the  very  same  as  that  of  a  certain 
town  in  Saxony.  It  was,  in  fact,  on  the  right  bank,  and 
just  below  the  Island  of  la  Cite,  that  the  Saxon  and 
Frankish  tribes  had  their  camp  before  they  got  pos- 
session of  Paris,  and  it  was  here  that  they  built  their 
block-house,  calling  it  leovar,  lovar,  lover,  or  lower, 
meaning  a  castle  or  fortified  place  ;  thus  the  district 
and  the  fortress-palace  built  on  the  site  of  the  block- 
house got  the  name  of  Louvre. 

If  we  turn  back  now  and  cross  the  bridge  Notre 
Dame  we  shall  find  ourselves  in  the  central  part  of  la 
Cite.  Off  to  the  right  stood  the  Palais  already 
noticed,  and  immediately  on  our  left  the  small  oratory 
of  Saint  Denis,  who  was  imprisoned  there  ;  opposite 
it  was  a  church  and  convent,  built  in  1015,  and  called 
by  the  same  name.      On  the  other  side  of  the  island, 

8 


114  PAEIS. 

and  a  little  to  the  west,  was  the  Church  of  St.  Gcr- 
main-le-Vieux,  founded  by  Chilperic  with  the  idea  of 
transferring  the  body  of  Saint  Germain  there  from 
an  oratory  close  to  the  Abbey  of  St.  Vincent,  though 
this  was  never  done.  The  church  was  consecrated 
under  his  name  long  before  the  abbey  ceased  to  be 
called  St.  Vincent,  and  during  the  Xorman  siege  the 
monks  brought  the  Saint's  body  there  for  safe-keeping. 

It  is  very  possible  that  St.  Gerraain-le-Vieux  may 
originally  have  been  the  baptistery  of  the  Cathedral 
Church  St.  Etienne — built  on  the  river-bank  because 
of  the  custom  of  baptism  by  immersion  that  prevailed 
in  the  early  church.  St.  Etienne  was  the  first  Chris- 
tian church  erected  on  the  Island  of  la  Cite ;  after 
Julian's  death  it  replaced  a  temple  to  Jupiter  on  a 
spot  partly  covered  by  the  present  sacristy  of  Notre 
Dame,  and  for  nearly  three  hundred  years  was  the 
Cathedral  of  Paris.  When  Saint  Germain  cured 
Childebort  of  a  serious  illness  the  King,  to  show  his 
gratitude,  built  a  fine  new  church  at  the  eastern  end 
of  the  island,  and  on  the  site  of  the  altar  raised  by 
the  Nautse  to  Jupiter.  From  that  time — the  early 
part  of  the  sixth  century — until  now,  Notre  Dame  has 
been  the  Cathedral  Church  of  Paris.  There  are 
some  colunnis  of  Childebert's  church  preserved  in  the 
Hotel  Cluny.  Although  much  injured  by  the  Nor- 
man invasions,  it  stood  until  11  Gl. 

Other  Merovingian  foundations  in  the  city  Avere 
first  the  Church  of  St.  Bartholomew,  near  the  Palais. 


PARIS  IN  THE  DARK  AGES.  115 

Tradition  says  it  was  a  heathen  temple,  where  Saint 
Denis  was  preaching  when  he  was  seized  and  thrown 
into  prison.  Hugh  Capet  enlarged  it  and  called  it 
St.  Bartholomew  and  St.  JMagloire. 

Next  St.  Martial,  already  an  ancient  church  when 
Saint  Aure's  body  was  brought  there  in  the  latter 
part  of  the  seventh  century.  Saint  Eloi  had  built 
it  and  the  adjoining  convent  for  nuns — so  in  the  ninth 
century  it  took  the  name  of  St.  Eloi  and  St.  Aure. 

And,  finally,  the  little  chapel  of  St.  Pierre  des  Arcis, 
standing  between  the  two  others.  Let  us  now  cross 
the  Petit-Pont  to  the  left  bank  and  see  what  the  origin 
Avas  of  St.  Germain  des  Pres. 

It  was  not  solely  to  please  Saint  Germain  that 
Childebert  built  the  Church  of  St.  Vincent  and  Ste.- 
Croix.  Gregory  of  Tours  tells  us  that  Avhen  the  king 
besieged  Saragossa  in  5-42  the  inhabitants  had  re- 
coui'se  to  an  odd  means  of  defense;  putting  on  hair- 
cloth, they  marched  around  the  town  several  times 
chanting  psalms  and  bearing  aloft  the  tunic  of  Saint 
Vincent.  Childebert  was  so  much  astonished  that 
he  consented  to  withdraw  his  army  if  they  would 
give  him  the  relic,  and  on  his  return  to  Paris  built 
a  church  to  receive  it,  which  he  dedicated  to  St. 
Vincent,  adding  the  name  of  Ste. -Croix  because  of  a 
gold  cross,  supposed  to  have  belonged  to  Solomon, 
which  he  had  also  ])rought  with  him  from  Spain. 
(Jisleinar,  an  eleventh  century  clironiclcr,  gives  a 
glowing   description  of  the   original   basilica,   which 


116  PARIS. 

was  dedicated  in  558,  and  a  religious  order  estab- 
lished in  the  abbey  attached  to  it.  Saint  Germain 
was  buried  in  an  oratory  close  by,  but  in  the  middle 
of  the  eighth  century  his  body  was  transferred  to  the 
basilica,  which  henceforth  went  by  his  name,  and 
placed  behind  the  altar  of  Ste. -Croix. 

Childebert  and  his  wife  had  already  been  laid  there, 
as  were  their  successors  of  the  Merovingian  line  until 
Dagobert  founded  St.  Denis  in  the  seventh  century. 
The  church  and  abbey  of  St.  Vincent  were  richly 
endowed  by  their  founder.  In  addition  to  the  enor- 
mous fief  of  Isciac  or  Issy,  which  stretched  away  to 
the  west  as  far  as  across  the  Meudon,  it  owned  the 
exclusive  right  to  fish  in  the  Seine,  a  roadway  eigh- 
teen feet  wide  on  both  banks,  from  the  Petit-Pont  to 
Sevres,  gardens,  vineyards,  the  Church  of  St.  Andre 
des  Arts,  which  had  replaced  the  oratory  of  St.  An- 
deol,  and  much  other  property,  so  that  by  the  be- 
ginning of  the  ninth  century  St. -Germain  des  Pres 
owned  land  inhabited  by  more  than  ten  thousand  souls, 
yielding  an  enormous  income.  In  the  Norman  inva- 
sions the  abbey  was  particularly  unfortunate ;  repeat- 
edly pillaged  and  nearly  destroyed  three  times,  it  had 
to  be  rebuilt  in  the  beginning  of  the  eleventh  cen- 
tury. The  large  square  tower  of  the  present  facade 
is  thought  to  be  a  part  of  the  Merovingian  Church. 

It  only  now  remains  for  us  to  speak  of  the  Church 
of  St.  Peter  and  St.  Paul,  built  by  Clovis  on  Mons 
Lucotetius  J  he  was  buried  there,  and  after  him  Clo- 


PAKIS  IN  THE  DARK  AGES.  117 

tilde  and  Sainte-Genevieve.  It  was  plundered  and 
burned  by  the  Normans,  but  rebuilt,  and  from  its 
association  with  the  patroness  of  Paris,  came  to  be 
called  by  her  name. 

This  ends  the  list  of  buildings  belonging  to  this 
period  ;  most  of  them,  as  will  be  noticed,  Merovingian 
in  their  origin,  the  Carlovingian  kings  having  hardly 
even  preserved  what  their  predecessors  left  them. 

In  closing  this  chapter  it  will  be  well  to  take  a 
rapid  survey  of  the  town,  just  as  the  pivot-point  is 
reached,  after  which  the  ascent  of  Europe  is  so 
marked  and  so  continuous. 

Let  us  imagine  a  distant  traveller  from  Toulouse 
or  from  Provence  arriving  by  the  great  southern  road 
at  the  period  where  this  division  closes — I  mean  toward 
the  end  of  the  first  third  of  the  eleventh  century. 

In  the  first  place,  he  is  approaching  a  foreign  town. 
For  hundreds  of  miles  already  the  language  has  been 
all  but  unintelligible  to  him,  save  where  he  could  talk 
low-Latin  with  some  priest  or  bailiff — and  even  then 
the  southern  accent  would  make  it  difficult  to  follow. 

The  Paris  which  is  before  him  is,  to  him,  a  great 
town  of  the  north,  the  centre  of  a  country  of  which 
he  has  often  heard,  the  "  Duchy  of  France."  He 
knows,  however,  that  quite  lately,  in  his  own  lifetime, 
perhaps,  the  title  of  "  King  "  has  been  given  to  its 
particular  lord.  This  title  gives  him  a  vague — a  very 
vague — feeling  of  the  old  unity  of  Gaul ;  but  certainly 
in  his  mind  the  conception  of  sovereignty  is  attached 


118  PAETS. 

to  the  lord  of  his  own  country,  as,  for  instance,  the 
Count  of  Toulouse,  or  even  (if  he  be  a  countryman) 
to  the  little  local  lord  of  the  manor  from  which  he 
comes.  That  vague  feeling,  however,  will  be  the 
more  enduring,  and  on  it  the  strong  edifice  of  Fr6nch 
patriotism  is  soon  to  be  founded. 

He  comes  over  the  brow  of  a  hill  which  has  lost  its 
old  name  of  '^Lucotetius,"  and  which  he  hears  the  peas- 
ants call  ''Mont  de  Ste.  Genevieve,"  and  as  he  crosses 
the  summit,  the  squat  Romanesque  church  where  she  is 
buried,  which  had  been  in  view  for  miles,  lies  close 
to  him  on  his  right.  Its  architecture  is  that  part  of 
the  northern  country  which  most  reminds  him  of 
home.  Indeed,  all  the  western  world  was  building  in 
the  same  way  ;  copying,  that  is,  the  later  Roman 
work.  Thick  pillars  cro^^^led  with  rude  capitals, 
these  carved  now  and  then  with  rough  foliage,  or 
attempts  to  represent  animals  and  men  ;  a  flat  or 
wide-angled  roof;  sometimes  a  massive  square  tower, 
and  everywhere  in  window  and  door  the  plain  round 
arch,  three  great  specimens  of  which  would  form  the 
main  entrance  on  the  west  front — such  Avere  the  feat- 
ures of  this  and  of  a  hundred  other  buildings  with 
Avhich  he  was  already  familiar.  But  he  would  cer- 
tainly notice  how  much  ruder  was  this  than  the  south- 
ern work,  and  especially  how  terribly  fallen  from  the 
relics  of  the  fourth  and  fifth  centuries,  in  Avhich  his 
native  province  abounded. 

Strength  obtained  only  by  thickness,  irregularity 


PAEIS  IN  THE  DARK  AGES.  119 

of  outline,  lack  of  finish  in  the  surface  of  the  stone, — 
all  this  Avould  contrast  unpleasantly,  in  his  eyes,  Avith 
the  memories  of  his  own  towns. 

The  church  would  have  about  it  much  scafFoldinsr. 
It  was  indeed  a  feature  of  every  town  for  generations 
to  come ;  for  the  buildings  undertaken  were  great 
and  the  progress  made  was  extremely  slow. 

About  the  church  a  great  burial-place  still  stood, 
but  already  numerous  houses,  a  kind  of  little  village, 
had  grown  up.  Square,  with  low  doorways  and  few 
windows,  they  formed  the  Avorst  dwellings  that  the 
place  had  knoA\ai  since  the  Gaulish  huts  gave  place 
to  the  dwellings  of  the  Romans. 

Beneath  him  as  he  passed  this  suburb  the  town  of 
Paris  would  be  spread  out. 

First  he  would  notice  to  his  left,  and  close  to  him, — 
less,  indeed,  than  a  mile  away,— a  large  monastery  and 
church,  the  latter  mcomplete,  covered  with  a  tem- 
porary Avooden  roof,  Avliile  the  Avorkmen  Avere  still 
laboring  at  its  Avails.  In  some  places  these  Avails 
Avould  be  evidently  far  older  than  in  others,  and  such 
spots  Avould  haA^e  often  a  charred  and  dark  surface. 
All  round  the  monastery  and  church  a  great  Avail 
would  be  seen,  enclosing  many  acres  of  ground. 
These  Avere  the  house  and  garden  of  the  ncAv  St. 
Germain  des  Pres — the  great  shrine  which  had  been 
l)urnt  more  than  a  century  ago  by  the  Normans,  and 
which  the  last  two  generations  had  been  rebuilding. 
About  this  church  was  a  little  village,  like  that  uoiw 


120  PARIS. 

which  he  stood.  Following  the  view  to  the  right, 
and  along  the  river,  he  would  come  to  a  great  square 
enclosure,  round  which  ran  a  wall  still  Roman  in  its 
brick-work,  but  buttressed  here  and  there  by  the 
rude  masonry  of  liis  own  time.  This  garden,  he 
M^oidd  be  told,  was  the  "  Clos  deLaas,"  and  he  would 
see  it  stretching  right  up  to  the  river  in  a  northerly 
direction,  while  easterly  it  ran  three-quarters  of  a 
mile,  all  the  way  from  the  abbey  of  St.  Germain  to 
the  great  ruin  at  his  feet.  This  great  ruin,  a  con- 
fused mass  of  burnt  and  charred  stone,  built  up  here 
and  there  into  temporary  dwelling-places,  and  in 
other  places  again  quarried  of  its  old  stones  for  the 
purposes  of  the  later  buildings,  was,  of  course,  the 
palace  of  the  Thermes — the  road  ran  right  past  it, 
through  the  wall  of  the  "  Clos  deLaas,"  and  reached  a 
little  Avooden  bridge  going  over  to  the  island. 

Round  the  island  itself  was  a  great  and  thick  wall, 
while  on  the  main-land  end  of  the  little  bridge  a  has- 
tion,  as  it  were,  called  the  "  Petit  Chatelet,"  defended 
its  approach.  The  walls,  both  of  the  Petit  Chatelet 
and  of  the  island  were  of  that  large,  coarse  work  which 
distinguishes  all  the  works  of  defense  up  to  the  Cru- 
sades. The  best  idea  of  this  kind  of  building  may 
be  found  by  looking  at  one  of  those  great  "  keeps  " 
which  yet  remain  in  some  of  those  castles  of  England 
that  date  from  the  eleventh  century. 

Probably  these  walls  of  the  Cite  were  not  thirty 
feet  high,  but  immensely  thick — fifteen  feet,   let  us 


PAEIS  IN  THE  DARK  AGES.  121 

say — built  of  two  outer  cases  of  masonry  and  tilled 
in  between  with  clay  and  large  stones.  This  wall 
would  have  neither  battlement  nor  projection  of  any 
kind.  Here  and  there  a  window  in  places  where  a 
house  stood  against  the  inside  of  it ;  at  long  inter- 
vals a  slightly  projecting  square  tower,  a  little  higher 
than  the  rest  of  the  structure,  would  defend  it  by 
flanking  its  assailants.  Finally,  around  it  all  Avas  a 
continuous  and  broad  walk,  on  which,  as  he  ap- 
proached the  city,  our  traveller  would  probably  have 
seen  a  watch  stationed. 

On  the  island  itself  wvas  a  dense  mass  of  private  build- 
ings, hemming  in  the  public  monuments  on  all  sides. 

Indeed,  the  traveller  would  see  little  more  than  the 
roofs  of  the  churches  and  the  upper  story  of  the 
palace. 

Still,  by  what  could  be  seen,  he  would  have  made 
out  on  the  extreme  left  of  the  island  the  old  Roman 
palace,  little  changed,  and  having  a  garden  between 
it  and  the  western  point  of  the  island.  Outside  the 
wall  at  this  spot  lay  two  small  islands,  which  were, 
and  remained  for  many  centuries,  uninhabited  and 
unused.  Beside  the  palace,  and  to  the  right  of  it, 
that  isj  towards  the  eastern  end  of  the  island,  he 
would  have  seen  the  Church  of  St.  Stephen,  close 
to  the  river  bank  and  just  to  the  right  of  the  bridge. 
The  walls  would  appear  to  him  partly  old  and  partly 
repaired,  for  the  edifice  had  suffered  greatly  in  the 
Norman  siege  of  more  than  a  century  before. 


122  PAKIS. 

Behind  this  cliurch  (which  was  of  the  Basiliean 
type),  overlapping  it  as  it  were,  and  partly  appear- 
ing to  the  left  of  it,  stood  the  Romanesque  Church 
of  Notre  Dame  ;  low,  flat-roofed,  Avith  small,  round 
windows  on  the  south  side,  which  Avas  turned  to  the 
spectator.  The  Church  of  St.  Martial,  and  probably 
a  great  square  prison  tower  on  the  northern  bank  of 
the  island,  standing  above  the  churches  and  towers, 
would  be  all  he  would  see  of  the  town. 

Beyond  it,  however,  a  northern  wooden  bridge,  in 
a  line  wdth  the  southern  one,  connected  the  island 
with  the  further  bank,  and,  where  the  bridge  reached 
the  shore,*  a  very  strong  building,  corresponding  to 
the  smaller  one  on  his  side  of  the  river,  would  arrest 
the  traveller's  attention.  It  was  called  "  Le  Grand 
Chatelet,"  and  was  indeed  the  principal  defense  of 
the  city.  Massive,  perfectly  plain,  and  probably 
higher  than  any  part  of  the  island,  it  must  have 
formed  the  principal  object  in  his  view. 

To  the  left  of  this  a  small  and  unimportant  block- 
house marks  the  site  of  the  future  Louvre,  while  on 
the  right  a  dense  but  small  undefended  suburb  sur- 
rounded the  Place  de  Greve  ;  while  further  yet  to  the 
right  the  two  large  islands  spoken  of  in  the  last  chap- 
ter still  lay,  unbuilt  upon  and  unbridged,  close  against 
the  northern  shore. 

*  There  is  some  ambiguity  on  this  point.  The  Chatelet  may 
have  been  to  the  rir/ht  of  the  bridge  if,  as  we  suppose,  from  M. 
Jules  Cousin's  hypothesis,  it  (the  Grand  Pont)  was  identical  with 
the  Pont  Notre  Dame. 


PARIS  IN  THE  DAEK  AGES.  123 

Such  was  the  Paris  of  the  early  Capetians,  upon 
which  our  traveller  would  gaze.  On  the  road  there 
might  be  passing  him,  going  into  the  city,  a  group 
of  villeins  in  rough  tunics,  entering  it  to  sell  their 
market-produce,  or  perhaps  a  group  of  nobles  and 
fighting  men,  the  former  armed  with  a  great  sword, 
a  long  kite-shaped  shield,  a  little  conical  cap  of  iron, 
and  the  body  only  covered  Avith  links  of  mail,  Avhile 
the  legs  remained  unarmed.  They  would  be  riding 
on  great  thick-set  horses.  These  were  by  no  means 
like  our  riding-horses  (whose  Arab  blood  was  intro- 
duced through  the  Crusades),  but  rather  like  our 
cart-horses. 

By  the  side  of  these  lords  of  manors,  or  independ- 
ent knights,  went  their  footmen,  who,  for  all  their 
insignificance,  were  the  bulk  of  fighting  men  even 
then.  They  were  clothed  in  no  mail,  but  only  thick 
leather  coats,  armed  with  a  dirk.  Some  had  small 
bows  and  arrows,  and  some  would  be  wearing  little 
steel  caps  on  their  heads,  as  did  their  masters. 

Following  one  or  other  of  these  groups  our  travel- 
ler would  })ass  through  the  Petit  Chatelet,  cross  the 
wooden  bridge  (exactly  where  the  Petit-Pont  now 
stands),  and  would  enter  the  narroAv  central  street  on 
which  stood  the  market-place,  already  encroached 
upon  by  the  private  houses.  Directing  himself  to 
some  of  the  inns,  the  southerner  would  pass  (prob- 
ably) through  a  low,  round  doorw.ay  to  find  himself 
in  a  great  common  hall.     And  there,  after  eating,  the 


124  PARIS. 

long  evening  (for  tlio  principal  meal  came  early  in  the 
day)  Avould  pass  in  songs.  He  might  well  hear  from 
a  travelling  singer,  of  such  as  were  beginning  to 
awaken  the  north,  a  passage  from  one  of  the  great 
war  epics  of  the  langue  d'Oil,  Roncesvalles,  or  Ogier, 
or  the  Kings  of  Lombardy.  With  such  sights  and 
soimds  he  would  have  seen  and  heard  rude  origins  of 
a  city  and  of  a  literature  which  were  to  mould  the 
character  of  the  west. 


PAEIS  OF  THE  EARLY  MIDDLE  AGES.        125 


CHAPTER    IV. 

PARIS    OF    THE    EARLY    MIDDLE    AGES. 

It  is  necessary  to  deal  in  this  one  short  chapter 
with  the  story  of  the  city  during  a  period  as  marvel- 
lous and  as  fruitfid  as  has  ever  changed  the  civiliza- 
tion of  the  Avest.  It  would  be  possible — we  had 
almost  said  it  woidd  be  necessary — to  write  a  volume 
on  the  three  hundred  years  which  Ave  must  compress 
into  the  space  of  a  fcAv  pages. 

It  may  be  remembered  that  at  the  beginning  of  the 
last  chapter  Ave  spoke  of  the  great  "  A^alley "  that 
characterized  the  history  of  Europe  betAveen  the  days 
of  the  Roman  Empire  and  our  OAvn.  It  Avas  remarked 
that  in  the  declining  road  on  the  far  side  of  that  de- 
pression the  civilization  of  the  Empire  had  fallen  and 
decayed  upon  every  side,  and  Ave  noted  a  certain  turn- 
ing-point at  or  about  the  first  generation  of  the  eleventh 
century,  after  Avhich  the  Avhole  of  society  leads  up- 
Avard  again  towards  a  kind  of  perfection.  To  that  first 
process,  Avith  Avhich  we  have  just  dealt  in  the  preced- 
ing chapter,  the  name  "  dark  ages  "  is  very  properly 
given  ;  to  the  second,  upon  which  Ave  are  now  enter- 
ing, the  name  "  middle  ages"  (though  it  is  a  term  of 
the   vaguest  significance,  and  calls   up  no  particular 


126  PAEIS. 

picture  in  the  mind)  must  be  applied,  simply  because 
it  is  that  to  which  the  historical  reader  is  most  accus- 
tomed. 

But  the  term  "  early  middle  ages  "  seems  to  con- 
note a  set  of  ideas  from  Avhich  ^ve  are  very  far  in- 
deed in  the  description  which  we  desire  to  give.  To 
regard  that  long  period  from  the  awakening  of  Europe 
down  to  the  Reformation  as  a  kind  of  inclined  plane, 
up  which  society  marches  with  contented  and  ever-ris- 
ing feet,  would  be  the  grossest  of  errors.  The  period 
of  which  we  are  to  deal  was  a  period  unique  in  the 
history  of  the  world  and  of  the  city.  Its  central 
monument  was  the  thirteenth  century,  "  the  flower 
of  the  middle  ages,"  an  epoch  beside  whose  sim- 
plicity the  fourteenth  century  is  theatrical  and  the 
fifteenth  simply  vicious.  It  produced  characters  not 
only  of  such  an  altitude,  but  of  such  a  quality,  and 
those  secure  in  such  conspicuous  and  eminent  places; 
it  allowed  the  true  leader  his  place  so  readily,  and  even 
Avitli  such  insistence,  that  it  is  no  wonder  if  many 
men,  hoping  everything  of  Europe's  ideals  and  fully 
trusting  in  her  future,  should  look  back  regretfully  to 
this  time.  It  had  not  conquered  brutality  nor  given 
good  laws  the  machinery  of  good  communications  and 
of  a  good  police,  but  its  ideals  were  of  the  noblest, 
and,  what  is  more,  they  were  sincerely  held.  Of  all 
the  phases  through  which  our  race  has  passed  this  was 
surely  the  one  least  tainted  with  hypocrisy,  and  per- 
haps it  was  the   one  in  which   the   more   oppressed 


PAEIS  OF  THE  EAKLY  MIDDLE  AGES.         127 

classes  of  society  were  less  hopelessly  miserable  than 
at  any  future  time. 

As  to  Paris,  the  change  passes  over  it  as  follows : 
We  left  it  a  small  town,  thick  in  walls  and  squat  in 
architecture,  squalid  and  rude,  half-barbarous ;  but 
there  sat  in  its  Palace  of  the  city,  under  old,  grey, 
round  arches  that  were  still  Roman,  or  drinking  at 
long  tables  in  square,  unvaulted  halls,  the  beginners 
of  the  great  dynasty  of  the  Capetians. 

They  were  called  Kings  of  France,  and  in  that 
name  and  idea  was  the  seed  of  a  very  vigorous  plant, 
but  as  yet  the  seed  remained  unbroken.  It  was  dead, 
in  dead  earth.  At  his  crowning  the  lords  of  the  great 
provinces  came,  as  it  were,  to  act  as  symbols ;  in  a 
vague  theory  he  was  superior  to  any  in  the  space 
from  the  Saone  Valley  and  the  Rhone  Valley  to  the 
Atlantic ;  but  in  fact  he  Avas  a  crowned  noble,  given, 
by  the  symbolism  and  the  Roman  memories  of  his 
time,  the  attributes  of  central  government,  allowed  to 
personify  that  dim,  half-formed  but  gigantic  idea  of 
the  nation  ;  there  his  poAver  ended.  It  all  lay  in  a 
phrase  and  a  conception.  But  with  the  people  over 
whom  he  was  nominally  set  a  phrase  or  an  idea  is 
destined  to  be  of  awful  weight;  and  the  force  of  things, 
the  bHnd,  almost  unconscious  powers  of  the  national 
spirit,  like  some  organic  law,  forces  the  Capetians 
on  a  certain  path  towards  the  inevitable  Latin 
nationality.  Already  the  epics  were  singing 
"  Doulce  France   Tere   Majeure,"    and    Roland  has 


128  PARIS. 

been  made  a  patriot  saint,  for  all  the  -world  like 
Hoclie  or  Marceau. 

The  character  of  the  Kings  corresponded  to  this 
power,  and  no  wonder,  for  it  was  a  time  all  of  soldiers, 
when  a  William  of  Falaise  had  only  to  call  for  vol- 
unteers on  the  Beach  of  the  Caux  Country  and  have 
men  from  Italy  and  from  Spain  coming  at  his  heels. 
With  fate  offering  such  work,  it  is  no  wonder  that 
one  after  the  other,  Avith  very  few  exceptions,  the 
early  Kings  are  hard  fighters  •,  but  still,  till  the  great 
change  of  the  twelfth  century,  they  are  only  the  lords 
of  a  little  territory  which,  with  change  of  horses,  you 
might  cover  in  a  day's  hard  riding ;  here  and  there 
a  royal  town  far  off,  and  always  the  title  of  King. 

At  their  very  gates  the  castles  of  their  little  under- 
lords  defy  them.  Montlhery  was  all  but  independ- 
ent, Enghien  was  a  tiny  kingdom,  and  one  tower  of 
the  one,  the  hill  of  the  other,  are  visible  from  the 
Mont  St.  Genevieve  to-day.  As  for  their  great  vas- 
sals, the  peers,  the  Dukes  of  Normandy  and  of 
Aquitaine,  the  Count  of  Champagne  and  the  Lords  of 
the  Marches  beyond  the  Loire,  they  are  treaty-mak- 
ing sovereigns,  that  make  war  at  their  pleasure  upon 
the  King  of  France.  William  of  Normandy,  when  he 
held  England,  or  even  before  that,  was  a  better  man 
in  the  field.  The  Duke  of  Aquitaine  let  no  writs  run 
beyond  his  boundaries.  The  Lords  of  Toulouse  would 
have  had  difficulty  in  telling  you  what  their  relation 
was  to  the  distant  successor  of  Charlemagne. 


PAKIS  OF  THE  EAELY  MIDDLE  AGES.         129 

So  througli  the  eleventh  centiuy  the  Kings  of  Paris 
drag  on,  always  fighting,  making  little  headway.  The 
equals,  and  by  times  the  inferiors  of  the  provincial 
over-lords,  you  might  have  thought  that  these  would 
end  in  the  making  of  minor  kingdoms,  or  even  that 
the  lords  of  separate  manors  might  in  time  become 
the  aristocracy  of  settled  community ;  but  behind  them 
all  was  the  infinite  aggregate  of  little  permanent 
forces,  the  national  traditions,  the  feeling  of  unity, 
the  old  Roman  memory,  and,  though  it  was  centuries 
before  the  provincial  over-lord  disappeared  forever, 
and  even  centuries  more  before  the  lord  of  the  vil- 
lage succumbed,  still  a  future  history  was  making 
very  slowly  all  the  while  the  central  government  and 
the  King. 

It  is  with  the  close  of  the  eleventh  century  that 
the  flow  of  the  tide  begins.  The  great  crusading 
march  has  shaken  Europe  out  of  its  routine  and  tor- 
por. The  "  Dust  of  Villages,"  already  someAvhat 
united  by  the  Hildebrandine  reform,  is  taught  the  folly 
of  disintegration  as  each  community  watches  strange 
men,  with  a  hundred  foreign  dialects,  and  with  the 
habits,  the  laws,  the  necessities  of  a  hundred  vary- 
ing places,  all  passing  on  with  the  common  purpose 
of  Christendom.  Trade  is  opened  between  towns 
that  had  hardly  known  each  other  by  name ;  the 
Mediterranean  begins  to  reassume  its  old  place  in  the 
western  civilization ;  the  necessity  of  interchange, 
both  social  and  material,  grows  in  the  experiences  of 

9 


130  PAKIS. 

tliat  vast  emigration ;  and  when,  with  the  last  years 
of  the  old  century,  the  code  of  Roman  law  is  redis- 
covered, Europe  is  ready  for  the  changes  which  the 
pandects  are  to  produce. 

This  discovery  must  certainly  be  made  the  start- 
ing-point for  observing  the  effects  of  the  new  devel- 
opment in  European  life.  As  Ave  have  said,  all 
Europe  was  awake.  The  code  alone  would  never 
have  revolutionized  society,  but  the  Roman  law  fall- 
ing upon  a  society  already  alert,  vigorous,  attentive, 
and  awaiting  new  things,  had  a  most  prodigious  effect. 

It  gave  to  what  Avould  have  been  in  any  case  a 
period  of  great  forces  a  particular  direction  to  which 
we  owe  the  character  of  all  the  succeeding  centu- 
ries. At  Paris  the  King  of  the  eleventh  century 
is  a  great  noble  ;  he  is  conscious,  vaguely,  that  he 
stands  for  government,  bvit  government  is  little  more 
than  an  idea.  What  woidd  France  have  been  if  the 
Capetians  had  not  had  to  fight  their  Avay  forward 
inch  by  inch  till  the  destiny  of  national  unity  was  ac- 
complished ?  Certainly  a  very  different  thing  from 
the  highly  centralized  society  that  we  know. 

As  it  was,  the  law  which  handed  down  to  the  mid- 
dle ages,  across  a  gap  of  many  centuries,  the  spirit 
of  absolute  and  central  authority  came  Avith  an  im- 
mense moral  force  to  the  help  of  governments,  and 
therefore  of  civilization.  It  takes  a  centiiry  to  leaven 
the  Avhole  of  society,  but  when  this  work  is  done  it 
produces  a  very  marvellous  society,  for  the  thirteenth 


PAKIS  OF  THE  EARLY  MIDDLE  AGES.         131 

century  is  a  little  gem  in  the  story  of  mankind.  It 
produced  tins  effect  because  its  logic^  its  sense  of 
order,  its  basis  of  government,  were  combined  Avith 
those  elements  of  tribal  loyalty  and  of  individual  ac- 
tion which  had  emerged  in  the  decline  of  the  Empire, 
and  Avhose  excess  had  caused  many  of  the  harsh  and 
picturesque  features  of  the  dark  ages.  Later  on  the 
Roman  law  becomes  all  poAverful,  and  in  its  too  great 
preponderance  the  localities  and  the  individuals  de- 
cay— till  the  crown  is  too  heavy  for  the  nation. 

While  the  first  three  Crusades  are  being  fouglit 
Paris  is  growing  in  numbers  as  well  as  in  light.  The 
rough  suburbs  to  the  north  and  south  of  the  island 
have  become  larger  than  the  parent  city.  The  one 
climbs  up  and  covers  the  hill  of  Ste.  G-enevieve  ;  the 
other,  in  a  semicircle  of  nearly  half  a  mile  in  depth, 
densely  fills  the  surroundings  of  the  Chatelet  and  the 
Place  de  Greve.  Meanwhile,  doubtless,  as  in  other 
parts  of  France,  the  rude  and  debased  architecture 
is  struggling  to  an  improvement.  The  spirit  that 
made  the  Abbaye  aux  Dames  in  Caen  must  have 
been  present  in  Paris ;  but  nothing  remains  of  its 
work,  for  the  Gothic  came  immediately  and  trans- 
formed the  city. 

This  great  change  (and  the  greatest  change — to 
the  eye — that  ever  passed  over  our  European  cities) 
marks  the  middle  and  end  of  the  twelfth  century,  and 
there  goes  side  by  side  with  it  a  startling  develop- 
ment  of    learning    and   of    incpiiry.       That    central 


132  PARIS. 

twflftli  century,  shaken  and  startled  hy  the  march- 
ing of  the  second  Crusade,  is  the  lifetime  of  Abelard 
and  of  KSaint  Bernard.  Upon  every  side  the  liuman 
intellect,  Avhich  had,  so  to  speak,  lain  fallow  for  these 
hundreds  of  years,  arises  and  begins  again  the  end- 
less task  of  questions  in  which  it  delights.  Religion 
is  illuminated  with  philosophy  as  the  stained  glass  of 
a  church,  unperceivcd  in  darkness,  may  shine  out 
when  the  sun  rises.  As  though  in  sympathy  with 
this  movement  and  stirring  of  the  mind,  the  houses 
and  the  churches  change.  The  low,  clear,  routine 
method  of  the  Romanesque,  that  round  arch  and  wide, 
the  flat  roof,  the  square  tower  and  low  walls  which  had 
corresponded  with  an  unquestioning  period,  suddenly 
take  on  the  anxiety  and  the  mystery  of  the  new  time. 
Contact  Avith  the  east  has  done  this.  The  pointed 
arches,  the  long  line  pillars,  the  high  pitched  gable 
roofs,  and  at  last  the  spires — all  that  we  call  "  the 
Gothic,'' — a})pears,  and  is  the  mark  of  the  great  epoch 
upon  which  Ave  are  entering.  Already  the  first  stones 
of  Notre  Dame  are  laid,  and  already  its  sister  thing, 
the  University  of  Paris,  is  chartered,  and  the  build- 
ings rise  Avith  the  first  years  of  the  thirteenth  century, 
standing  in  numerous  colleges  on  the  hill  of  Ste. 
Genevieve. 

When  the  full  tide  of  this  movement  Avas  being 
felt  there  arose,  to  the  singular  good  fortune  of  the 
French  people,  the  personality  of  Philip  the  Cou' 
queror. 


PARIS  OF  THE  EARLY  MIDDLE  AGES.         133 

It  was  he  avIio  turned  the  King  of  Paris  truly  into 
the  King  of  France.  Not  Montlhery  nor  Enghien 
were  the  prizes  of  his  adventures,  but  Normandy, 
Poitou,  Aquitaine.  The  centre  of  what  is  now  a 
kingdom,  the  town  of  Paris,  became  with  the  close 
of  his  reign  in  the  early  thirteenth  century  a  changed 
town.  He  has  paved  its  streets,  surrounded  it  with 
a  great  wall  and  many  towers ;  outside  this  wall  to 
the  west,  his  own  stronghold  of  the  Louvre,  a  square 
tower  of  stone,  is  standing,  and  Saint  Louis  inherits  a 
capital  worthy  of  the  perfect  chapel  which  he  will 
build  at  its  centre,  and  almost  worthy  of  his  own  ad- 
mirable spirit.  He  and  the  century  which  he  fills 
are  the  crown  and  perfection,  and  also  the  close  of 
this  great  epoch  in  the  history  of  the  town. 

With  Saint  Louis'  reign  practically  closes  the  bril- 
liant thirteenth  century  of  Paris.  There  are,  it  is 
true,  sixty  years  more  before  the  outbreak  of  the 
English  wars,  but  they  are  sixty  years  in  which  the 
w^ork  is  being  consolidated  rather  than  increased. 
The  Paris  we  shall  leave  at  the  end  of  this  chapter  is 
the  Paris  of  Saint  Louis. 

As  to  the  government,  its  final  changes  followed 
the  social  movement  of  the  time.  France  just  before 
the  English  wars  was  a  centralized  monarchy;  already 
the  knell  of  feudalism  is  rung,  already  the  King's 
jurisdiction  is  paramount  throughout  the  territory. 

It  will  pass  through  many  vicissitudes,  the  English 
wars  will  all  but  destroy  it ;  the  close  of  the  fifteenth 


/ 


134  PARIS. 

century  will  resuscitate  it  under  Louis  XI.,  and  keep 
it  strong  for  a  hundred  years^  only  to  be  jeopardized 
again  and  almost  ended  in  the  century  of  the  re- 
ligious wars  and  of  the  "  Fronde."  It  will  reappear 
with  Louis  XIY.,  and  be  imperilled  yet  again  by  the 
Girondin  movement  of  the  Revolution ;  but  our  own 
century  will  once  more  reassert  those  primary  facts — 
the  unity  and  centralization  of  France  under  Paris. 

It  is,  as  we  have  said,  with  Saint  Louis  that  this 
great  achievement  is  first  clearly  recognized.  Long 
the  dream  of  all  the  common  people,  heard  in  their 
popular  songs  and  reflected  in  their  ecclesiastical  at- 
titude, it  is  made  a  real  thing  by  the  hard  blows  of 
Philip  the  Conqueror,  it  is  administered  in  peace  and 
order  by  Louis  the  Saint.  France  henceforward  is  a 
one  particular  thing :  with  a  voice,  her  vernacular 
literature ;  with  a  soul,  the  national  character ;  to 
which,  in  its  highest  plane.  Saint  Louis  himself  so 
admirably  conforms  ;  and  Paris  is  the  brain. 

But  the  decay  which  was  to  put  her  vitality  to  so 
terrible  a  test  in  the  century  of  the  wars,  that  dis- 
ease had  already  touched  the  city  and  the  nation 
after  the  death  of  the  Saint.  The  last  thirty  years 
of  the  thirteenth  century  disclose  it,  the  beginning 
of  the  fourteenth  century  makes  it  terribly  plain.  It 
is  clearest  in  the  character  of  Philippe  le  Bel. 

Saint  Louis'  time  of  greatness  and  of  power  had 
been  all  simplicity  and  conviction.  You  see  in  Join- 
ville    (which  is,  as    it  were,  a  little  window  opening 


PAEIS  OF  THE  EAELY  MIDDLE  AGES.         135 

into  the  past)  wonderful  descriptions  of  how  the  vari- 
ous classes  of  society  mingled  in  amity,  of  the  villein 
and  the  noble  talking  together  as  they  follow  the 
King  from  Mass,  of  the  personal  justice  which  the 
King  gives,  so  often  with  smiles,  in  the  garden  of  the 
Palace.  It  was  an  age  which  was  simple  because 
of  its  intense  convictions. 

There  succeeds  a  period  in  which  those  convictions 
are  lost,  and  in  which  the  whole  of  society  rings  false. 
Philippe  le  Bel  rules  from  a  strong  centre,  but  as  a 
tyrant ;  the  Church  and  the  Papacy  are  using  the 
old  terms,  but  the  Pope  is  at  Avignon,  and  Boniface 
has  been  condemned. 

The  Templars  are  a  large  secret  society,  whose  riches 
are  a  menace  to  Europe.  Their  savage  extermina- 
tion shows  as  an  evil  even  worse  than  their  existence. 

The  stidtification  of  society,  class  aloof  from  class, 
runs  apace,  and  the  hierarchy  begin  that  fatal  alli- 
ance with  the  rich  that  has  been  the  greatest  peril  of 
Christianity  in  Europe.  And  we  catch  in  Joinville's 
old  age  a  kind  of  unrest,  as  though  the  simple  atti- 
tude of  his  mind,  full  of  the  memories  of  Saint  Louis, 
were  disturbed  and  made  uncertain  by  the  new 
society  which  he  saw  growing  up  around  him. 

To  suit  and  symbolize  the  period  the  palaces  grow 
larger,  the  streets  more  narrow,  the  people  poorer, 
and  our  next  chapter  will  trace  the  story  of  the  city 
during  the  worst  hundred  years  of  its  existence. 

Such  is  a  rough  sketch  of  the  development  of  the 


136  PAEIS. 

spirit  of  the  place  during  the  growth  with  which  Ave 
are  about  to  cleaL  Let  iis  turn  to  consider  in  detail 
the  varying  aspect  of  the  city  during  these  twelfth, 
thirteenth  and  early  fourteenth  centuries. 

Our  point  of  departure  is  not  material,  but  per- 
haps it  is  best  to  consider  iirst  the  meagre  details 
that  have  come  down  to  us  of  the  origin  of  the  Hotel 
de  Ville.  So,  to  proceed  westward  to  the  Louvre,  to 
consider  then  the  Island,  the  Hill  of  Ste.  Genevieve, 
and,  finally,  the  outskirts  of  the  northern  and  eastern 
suburbs. 

While  it  has  been  often  conjectured  that  the  guild, 
who  certainly  used  the  shelving  shore  of  the  Greve 
as  a  port,  had  some  common-room  there,  its  earHest 
association  with  the  Hotel  de  Yille  is  in  1141,  when 
the  bourgeois  de  la  marcliandise,  whose  trade  had  out- 
grown the  small  port  of  St.  Landry,  purchased  part 
of  the  site  from  the  King  and  established  a  new  port 
there.  As  they  were  forbidden  to  build  on  the  Place 
de  la  Greve  itself,  which  remained  a  fief  royal,  they 
erected  a  house  on  some  land  belonging  to  the  Bishop 
of  Paris  lying  to  the  east.  This  house,  known  in 
the  beginning  of  the  next  century  as  the  "  Maison 
aux  Piliers,"  from  the  heavy  columns  that  supported 
the  second  story,  Avas  bought  by  Philip  Augustus  in 
1212.  Why  is  not  known,  unless  the  King  wished 
to  check  the  further  advance  of  the  Templars,  who 
threatened  to  swallow  up  everything  in  their  vast 
estate   in  the  Sainte-Catherine  mai'shes.     The  next 


PARIS  OF  THE  EARLY  MIDDLE  AGES.         137 

allusion  to  tlie  Place  de  la  Greve  is  in  1310,  when 
Philippe  le  Bel,  exercising  his  right  to  act  as  judge 
on  his  own  property,  had  a  priest  convicted  of  heresy, 
a  woman  who  had  circidated  heretical  writings,  and  a 
relapsed  Jew,  burned  there  on  the  feast  of  Pentecost. 
Here,  too,  were  executed  Gauthier  and  Philippe 
d'Aulnay,  the  lovers  of  the  wives  of  Louis  le  Hutin 
and  his  brother  Charles,  who  succeeded  him.  The 
open  place  where  these  and  subsequent  executions 
took  place  was  near  the  water,  close  by  a  street  Avhich 
bore  the  same  name  of  Martroy  (from  Martreium,  in 
allusion  to  the  executions).  It  was  long  marked  by 
a  cross. 

For  the  benefit  of  the  wretched  population  that 
dwelt  in  this  quarter,  a  certain  official  of  the  royal 
household  and  his  wife  founded  a  home  for  poor 
widows,  called,  after  them,  the  Hospice  of  the  Ilau- 
driettes.  The  Martroy,  which  was  like  a  continua- 
tion of  the  Place  de  la  Greve,  in  the  direction  of 
St.  Gervais,  was  gradually  encroached  upon  by  the 
neighboring  buildings  until  it  came  to  be  merely  a 
rather  narrow  street. 

The  memory  of  a  Church  of  St.  Jean,  formerly 
the  baptistery  of  St.  Gervais,  was  preserved  when 
the  Hotel  de  Ville  absorbed  it  later,  the  "  room  of 
St.  Jean  "  being  built  on  its  site. 

Up  to  the  middle  of  the  fourteenth  century  the 
Maison  aux  Piliers  changed  hands  repeatedly. 
Bought   by    Philippe   le    Bel,  as  though  he  feared  a 


138  PAKIS. 

growing  municipal  power,  resold,  given  to  his 
brother,  retaken  by  his  successor,  Philip  V.,  and 
given  by  him  to  the  Lord  of  Sully,  the  history  of  the 
House  of  Pillars  up  to  the  middle  of  the  fourteenth 
century  is  one  of  continual  transference  ;  but,  as  we 
shall  see  in  the  next  chapter,  it  becomes,  immediately 
after,  the  true  centre  of  a  vigorous  municipal  move- 
ment, and  from  that  time  onward  is  the  focus  of  Paris. 
Making  our  way  along  Avhat  have  become,  in  the 
twelfth  and  thirteenth  centuries,  with  the  great  ex- 
tension of  commerce,  the  crowded  quays  of  Paris, 
going  Avestward  from  the  Place  de  la  Greve,  we  pass 
close  by  the  Grand  Chatelet,  standing  at  the  north- 
ern end  of  the  Pont  au  Change.  Of  its  importance 
at  this  period  there  can  be  no  doubt,  both  as  a  fortress 
and  as  the  seat  of  one  of  the  royal  courts,  presided 
over  by  the  "  Prevot  de  Paris."  Here,  we  are  told. 
Saint  Louis  used  frequently  to  come,  and,  seated  under 
a  dais  beside  his  provost,  Etienne  Boisleve  (Boileau), 
listen  to  the  pleadings.*  In  1270,  or  according  to 
other  accounts  about  forty  years  later,  the  chapel  and 
Society  of  Notaries  was  founded  in  the  Chatelet  "  to 
the  honor  of  God  and  of  our  Lady  Saint  Mary,"  from 
which  time  until  the  eighteenth  century  the  Chatelet, 
although  in  the  parish  of  St.  Germain  I'Auxerrois 
continues  to  have  its  own  chapel.     Of  its  appearance 

*  This  provost  is  described  as  living  in  the  Chatelet,  and  even 
sleeping,  all  dressed,  in  the  great  hall,  so  as  to  be  always  in  readi- 
ness to  perform  his  judicial  functions. 


PARIS  OF  THE  EARLY  MIDDLE  AGES.         139 

at  this  date,  all  that  we  can  say  positively  is  that  the 
great  tower  Avith  its  crenelated  parapet  was  standing, 
having  been  erected  probably  about  the  time  of  Louis 
le  Gros. 

The  Pont  aux  Meuniers,  curious  for  its  seven  mills 
upon  the  bridge  itself,  was  a  little  further  down  the 
stream.  It  was  of  wood,  but  an  act  of  1273  speaks 
of  "  the  old  stone  bridge  which  used  to  be  where  the 
Pont  des  Monlins  is  now."  Below  this  we  find  our- 
selves in  the  flourishing  suburb  which  sprang  up 
after  the  Norman  invasions  from  the  ruins  of  the  old 
Frankish  settlement.  The  spot  Avhere  Sainte  Gene- 
vieve and  Saint  Germain  met  on  the  road  leading  from 
Lutetia  to  Nanterre  had  been  commemorated  by  the 
building  of  St.  Germain  le  Rond ;  no  doubt,  from  its 
shape,  a  baptistery.  This  building  was  used  by  the 
Normans  as  a  sort  of  nucleus  for  the  great  fortress 
they  constructed,  on  the  very  site  of  the  Frankish 
camp,  which,  with  its  palisades,  its  stone  ramparts 
and  its  deep  trenches,  is  still  brought  to  our  memory 
in  the  name  of  the  Rue  des  Fosses  St. -Germain  VAux- 
errois.  When  more  peaceful  times  came  for  Paris, 
many  people  were  attracted  to  the  neighborhood  by  the 
special  privileges  attaching  to  Episcopal  territory,  all 
of  this  district  having  been  given  by  Clovis  to  the 
Bishop  of  Paris.  The  suburb  grew  rapidly  ;  it  had 
its  market-place,  called  later  Place  de  I'Ecole  from 
the  school  attached  to  St.  Germain  I'Auxerrois,  and, 
what  was   still  more  important,  a   number  of  public 


140  PAEIS. 

ovens,  where  anyone  could  bake  his  own  bread.  The 
best  known  of  these  was  near  the  place  where  Clovis 
had  had  his  camp,  and  is  called  the  ^^fiirnus  de  Lovres," 
in  the  Livre  Noir,  under  date  of  1203. 

The  great  street  running  parallel  with  the  Seine, 
which  was  long  the  "  Strand "  of  Paris,  was,  after 
1204,  called  the  Rue  St.-Honore,  from  a  religious 
house  of  that  name.  Then  there  was  a  collegiate 
church,  dedicated  to  Saint  Thomas  of  Canterbury ;  soon 
after  his  murder  and  canonization,  it  became  better 
known  as  St. -Thomas  du  Louvre,  from  the  Palace 
close  by.  A  little  chapel  that  stood  on  the  bank,  sub- 
ject here  to  frequent  inundations,  was  called  from 
that  circvunstance  St.  Nicholas,  he  being  the  patron 
of  water  and  all  inundated  places.  It  was  annexed 
to  St.  Thomas  when  the  latter  was  built. 

But  far  more  important  than  all  these  minor  foun- 
dations clustering  about  it  was  the  Church  of  St. 
Germain  I'Auxerrois  itself,  reconstructed  by  King 
Robert  in  token  of  gratitude  when  the  year  1000  had 
passed  and  the  destruction  of  the  Avorld  been  happily 
averted  by  the  prayers  of  the  Church.  Of  this  build- 
ing, all  that  remains  is  the  tower  standing  on  the 
south  side  of  the  entrance  to  the  choir,  from  whence 
the  signal  was  given  for  the  massacre  of  St. -Bar- 
tholomew. 

When  Philip- Augustus  determined  to  join  the  Cru- 
sade of  1190,  in  order  to  leave  his  capital  in  a  better 
state  of  defense  he  began  the  great  wall  with  which 


PARIS  OF  THE  EARLY  MIDDLE  AGES.         141 

he  subsequently  surrounded  it ;  it  Avas  twenty-one 
years  in  building,  but  after  the  first  thirteen  years 
the  great  bulk  of  it  had  been  put  up.  It  enclosed  a 
space  of  almost  exactly  a  square  mile,  but  in  shape, 
of  course,  a  broad  oval,  and  included  Avithin  its  limits 
not  only  all  the  closely  populated  districts,  but  those 
suburbs  Avhich  had  sprung  up  on  both  banks  of  the 
river,  among  them  the  settlement  about  St.  Ger- 
main I'Auxerrois.  Of  the  space  it  enclosed,  by  far 
the  greater  part  Avas  on  the  northern  bank,  for  that 
is  the  side  on  AA'hich  the  development  of  Paris  began. 
On  the  southern  bank  it  is  marked  by  the  A\^ord 
"fosses,"  given  to  a  Avhole  line  of  streets  in  the 
Latin  quarter. 

On  the  site  of  the  old  camp  of  the  Franks,  hoAA^- 
CA^er,  it  Avas  evident  that  something  more  than  a 
simple  Avail  Avith  toAvers  and  trenches  Avas  needed. 
Experience  had  proved  this  to  be  the  most  vulner- 
able side  of  Paris,  and  consequently  the  one  to  be 
most  strongly  fortified. 

FolloAving  the  example  of  William  the  Conqueror, 
Avho  had  no  sooner  gotten  possession  of  London  than 
he  erected  a  strong  toAver  of  defense  close  to  the 
Thames,  Philip-Augustus  built  a  massive  toAA'er, 
directly  on  the  river  and  but  a  fcAv  feet  from  the 
Avail,  Avhich  soon  took  the  name  of  the  place  Avhere  it 
.stood.  Thus  the  Louvre  Avas  to  Paris  for  a  long  time 
just  Avhat  the  ToAver  Avas  to  London,  a  sort  of  dun-  V 
geoii  fortress.     In  form  it  Avas  an  elongated  square, 


J 


142  PAKIS. 

an  enlarged  and  strengthened  reproduction  of  the 
loiver  of  the  Franks,  but  it  would  hardly  have  cov- 
ered more  than  a  corner  of  the  court  of  the  present 
palace.  The  two  longer  sides  faced,  one  towards  the 
east,  where  it  was  divided  from  St.  Germain  I'Aux- 
errois  by  the  city  wall,  and  the  other  towards  the 
Tuileries  of  to-day,  on  this  side,  which  reached  from 
the  modern  wing  along  the  Seine  to  the  great  doorway 
of  the  Pavilion  Sully — a  part  of  the  original  build- 
ing is  still  standing ;  it  forms  one  of  the  walls  of  the 
Salle  des  Cariatides.  The  small  stairway  in  the  rear 
of  the  last  embrasure,  to  the  left  of  the  window,  and 
hidden  by  a  door,  dates  from  the  same  period,  and 
probably  belonged  to  the  tower  that  stood  at  the 
angle  of  the  southern  and  western  fa9ades.  On  the 
north  and  east  the  enclosure  was  protected  merely  by 
a  battlemented  wall,  having  towers  at  the  corners  and 
in  the  middle.  The  two  main  entrances  were  on  the 
south  and  east — great  gateways  flanked  by  massive 
towers  and  approached  by  drawbridges. 

The  precise  date  at  which  Philip-Augustus  began 
the  Louvre  is  not  known;  it  has  been  suggested 
though  that,  having  taken  advantage  in  1191  of 
Richard  Coeur-de-Lion  being  still  in  Palestine  to 
seize  a  part  of  Normandy,  he  may  have  thought  it 
more  prudent  to  fortify  the  most  exposed  side  of 
Paris  in  anticipation  of  an  attack  from  his  rival. 
The  work  must  have  been  pushed  rapidly  on,  for  in 
1202,  as  an  account  of  that  date  proves,  the  fortress 


PARIS  OF  THE  EARLY  MIDDLE  AGES.         143 

was  finished.      (It  had  been  built  at  the  King's  own    / 
expense,  while  the  great  boundary  wall  was  paid  for 
by  the  city  of  Paris.) 

The  account  spoken  of  above  reveals  one  point  of 
especial  interest.  It  mentions  the  sum,  considerable 
for  that  day,  paid  for  wine  for  the  bourgeois  em- 
ployed to  guard  the  Louvre.  This  is  another  proof 
of  the  policy  of  Philip-Augustus,  which  was  to 
strengthen  the  power  of  the  bourgeois,  and  to  look  to 
them  rather  than  to  the  nobles  for  his  real  support. 
In  1190,  when  leaving  for  the  Crusade,  he  had  con- 
fided the  care  of  his  treasure  to  six  prominent  bour- 
geois ;  and  now  we  find  him  in  1202,  when  the  con- 
sequences of  that  excursion  to  Normandy  might  be 
looked  for  at  any  time,  again  giving  proof  of  his  re- 
liance upon  the  bourgeois  by  putting  them  to  guard 
his  great  new  tower  and  fortress,  which  he  had  made 
the  key  to  Paris  itself.  And  what  service  is  required 
of  the  nobles  at  that  time  ?  Nothing  less  than  to  pull 
their  towers  down  or  abandon  them.  Jean  and  Robert 
de  Moret  are  forced  to  destroy  their  tower  at  Rade- 
pont.  The  Sire  de  Montferrand  is  allowed  to  pre- 
serve his  on  condition  that  it  shall  be  garrisoned  by 
the  King !  And  Matthew  de  ]\Iontmorency  is  forced 
to  pledge  himself  to  build  nothing  on  the  Seine  on 
the  Island  of  St.  Denis  ;  should  he  break  his  word, 
the  King  claims  the  right  to  pull  down  what  he 
puts  up. 

Apparently  from   the  moment  that  his  own  tower 


144  PAEIS. 

was    completed,  Philip  determined  that   not  another 
one  was  to  be  built,  so  far  as  his  power  extended. 
[  It  was  at  the  Louvre  that  the  vassals  of  the  crown 

took  the  oath  of  allegiance,  the  King  counting,  no 
doubt,  on  the  eflect  his  great  fortress  might  be  ex- 
pected to  produce  on  those  headstrong  and  turbulent 
chiefs. 

The  first  to  defy  the  power  which  the  tower  of  the 
Louvre  represented  was  Ferrant,  Count  of  Flanders, 
who  conspired  with  John  of  England  against  Philip. 
Defeated  by  the  latter,  he  was  brought  to  Paris  in 
chains  and  imprisoned  there  until  the  beginning  of 
Saint  Louis'  reign,  Avhen  he  regained  his  freedom  by 
paying  a  large  ransom. 

The  only  association  we  find  of  Louis  VIII.  with 
the  Louvre  is  a  clause  in  his  Avill  directing  that  his 
treasure  should  be  deposited  in  ''  our  ToAver  of  Paris 
near  St.  Thomas."  Under  Saint  Louis,  however, 
it  plays  an  important  part ;  all  grave  offenders  were 
brought  there  for  trial,  as  Enguerrand  de  Coucy,  for 
instance,  who  in  a  spirit  of  defiance  had  built  a  tower 
much  stronger  than,  and  at  least  twice  as  high  as  the 
King's,  and,  in  order  to  show  that  his  powers  were  in 
no  sense  inferior  to  those  of  the  crown,  had  hung 
three  young  gentlemen  of  Flanders  for  having  shot 
some  rabbits  which  had  been  chased  from  his  prop- 
erty onto  their  own.  The  King,  having  caused  En- 
guerrand to  be  brought  before  him,  was  so  moved 
out  of  his  ordinary  mildness  that  it  was  only  on  the 


PARIS  OF  THE  EAELY  MIDDLE  AGES.         145 

instance  of  his  nobles  that  he   substituted  an  enor- 
mous ransom  for  the  death-penalty. 

Louis  soon  fitted  up  a  chapel  at  the  Louvre,  and 
founded  a  home  for  three  hundred  poor  blind  persons 
a  little  beyond  St.  Thomas.  Such  pious  works  as 
these,  and  the  large  amounts  which  he  gave  con- 
stantly to  the  poor,  seem  to  be  the  only  expenditures 
amounting  to  anything  in  his  reign.  The  accounts 
mention  only  twenty  pounds  and  thirteen  sous  as  hav- 
ing been  spent  on  works  connected  with  the  Louvre, 
Chatelet,  etc.,  during  his  whole  reign,  while  in  less  than 
six  months  of  one  year  he  spent  more  than  eight 
thousand  pounds  in  gifts  and  charities.  On  the  other 
hand,  it  must  be  remembered  that  his  grandfather  had 
very  thoroughly  completed  the  defensive  works. 

The  Governor  of  the  Louvre  took  rank  among  the 
chief  officers  of  the  realm  on  all  great  occasions  of 
ceremony,  as  the  translation  of  Saint  Martin  in  July 
of  the  year  1250,  when  we  find  Regnault,  Chatelain  of 
the  Louvre,  almost  at  the  head  of  the  procession,  and 
a  few  days  later,  when  the  Bishop  of  Paris  was  in- 
stalled, he  is  one  of  the  four  "  Porteurs,"  a  much 
coveted  honor. 

It  was  probably  under  Philippe  le  Bel  that  the 
Louvre  was  made  a  captaincy.  Its  chatelain,  hence- 
forth a  captain,  had  not  only  all  the  privileges  be- 
longing to  that  rank,  but  was  obliged  to  stand  only 
in  the  presence  of  the  King,  and  to  take  orders  from 
no  one  else. 

10 


146  PAKIS. 

During  this  reign  the  royal  treasury  accounts  show 
a  very  different  method  of  expenditure  from  those  of 
Saint  Louis.  Large  sums  are  used  for  supplies  for 
the  Louvre  armory  and  to  build  palisades  around  the 
lists.  These  lists  were  probably  between  the  Church 
of  St.  Thomas  and  the  Seine,  and  the  Tower,  which 
got  the  name  of  the  "  tower  where  the  King  went 
when  they  tilted,"  was  no  doubt  that  one  whose  stair 
we  have  indicated  as  stiU  standing. 

The  central  tower  now  cambined  its  former  func- 
tion of  a  prison  with  that  of  a  treasury.  Here  was 
kept  all  the  state  treasure,  and,  after  the  death  of 
Philip,  when  the  Temple  had  ceased  to  be  an  equally 
safe  place  of  deposit,  that  of  the  King  as  well. 

On  the  death  of  Louis  X.,  his  uncle,  Charles  of 
Valois,  determined,  if  possible,  to  hold  on  to  the 
power  he  had  enjoyed  during  this  brief  reign,  seized 
the  Louvre  as  the  first  and  most  important  step 
towards  proclaiming  himself  regent,  retaining  the 
young  Queen  Clemence  there  under  guard ;  but  the 
Constable  Gaucher  de  Chatillon,  by  right  of  a  law 
(enforced  up  to  the  reign  of  Louis  XIII.)  which  for- 
bade any  prince  of  the  blood  to  lodge  at  the  Louvre 
in  the  King's  absence,  raised  an  army  of  bourgeois 
and  citizens,  and,  regaining  possession  of  the  fortress, 
was  able  to  deliver  it  into  the  hands  of  Philip,  the 
late  King's  brother,  when  he  reached  Paris. 

On  the  15th  of  November,  1316,  Queen  Clemence 
gave  birth   there  to  a  son,  who  was  baptized  Jean 


PARIS  OF  THE  EARLY  MIDDLE  AGES.         147 

in  the  Church  of  St.  Germain  I'Auxerrois.  Philip, 
who  had  been  busily  employed  in  getting  the  State 
and  Parliament  to  confirm  the  Salic  law  and  his  right 
to  the  throne  in  case  the  child  proved  to  be  a  girl, 
was  about  to  content  himself  Avith  the  regency  when 
the  little  prince  died,  leaving  him  the  way  to  the 
crown  clear. 

Charles  le  Bel  lived  certainly  a  part  of  the  time 
at  the  Louvre  ;  the  accounts  show  that  his  third  wife, 
Jeanne  d'Evreux,  kept  a  part  of  her  suite,  the  pages, 
called  "the  children  of  the  Louvre,"  there,  even  when 
she  herself  was  absent. 

In  fine,  the  story  of  the  Louvre  during  this  period 
(that  is,  from  the  time  of  its  building  to  the  English 
wars)  is  that  of  a  dungeon  or  fortress,  gradually  be- 
coming a  palace  as  the  King  tends  to  move  further 
and  further  away  from  the  heart  of  the  city.  Shortly 
after  (as  we  shall  see  in  the  next  chapter)  the  King 
abandons  the  Island  of  the  Cite  permanently,  gives 
its  Palace  over  to  the  lawyers,  and  settles  definitely 
in  the  Louvre. 

Having  followed  the  northern  bank  from  the  Place 
de  Greve  to  the  very  outskirts  of  Paris,  let  us  now 
cross  over  opposite  the  Louvre,  and  keeping  on  our 
right  the  great  chain  that  swings  across  the  river 
from  its  south-east  tower  to  the  Tour  de  Nesle  on 
the  left  bank,  let  us  land  at  the  western  end  of  the 
Island  of  the  Cite,  Avhere  the  Palace  stands. 

Mention  has  been  made  in  the  last  chapter  of  the 


148  PARIS. 

vigorous  measures  taken  by  Count  Eudes  to  protect 
Paris  from  fresh  attacks  of  the  Normans.  Chief 
among  these  was  the  conversion  of  tlie  Royal  PaLace 
of  la  Cite  into  a  strong,  square  fortification,  pro- 
vided with  lofty  towers,  which  Hugh  Capet,  llobert, 
Henry  L,  and  Philip  L,  all  seem  to  have  left  pretty 
much  as  they  found  it.  We  learn  nothing  more  of 
the  Palais  until  we  find  Louis  le  Gros,  who  died  there, 
establishing  canons  for  the  oratory  of  St.  Nicolas, 
in  existence  since  the  successor  of  Count  Eudes,  and 
which  he  had  converted  into  a  chapel.  The  canons 
were  to  be  entitled  to  six  hogsheads  of  Avine  from  the 
royal  vineyards — a  privilege  confirmed  by  Louis  le 
Jeune,  who  also  built  an  oratory  in  the  Palace  dedi- 
cated to  Our  Lady  of  the  Star.  It  disappeared  when 
Saint  Louis  erected  the  Sainte  Chapelle. 

Philip-Augustus  usually  lived  in  the  Palais  de  la 
Cite  when  he  was  in  Paris.  The  Louvre  was  his 
fortress,  but  at  the  Palace  he  held  his  court  and  ad- 
ministered justice.  Here  he  summoned  John  of 
England  to  appear  and  answer  for  his  crimes  in  seiz- 
ing the  Duchy  of  Arthur  of  Brittany  and  putting 
him  to  death. 

Philip,  we  are  told,  loved  to  be  in  Paris.  Raoul 
Glaber  describes  him  as  pacing  up  and  down  the 
Cour  royal,  that  is,  in  the  part  looking  north,  and 
stationing  himself  at  the  window,  from  whence  he 
liked  to  watch  the  Seine  flowing  by.  Unfortunately, 
however,  this  pleasure  was  a  good  deal  spoiled  by  the 


PARIS  OF  THE  EARLY  MIDDLE  AGES.        149 

very  bad  smells  that  came  from  the  city  mud  con- 
stantly ploughed  up  by  the  heavy  wagons  passing  to 
and  fro.  At  last  these  became  so  intolerable,  pene- 
trating into  the  palace  itself,  that  the  King  felt  he 
could  stand  it  no  longer,  and  something  would  have 
to  be  done. 

"  He  contemplated,"  says  Raoul  Glaber,  ''  an  un- 
dertaking as  difficult  as  it  Avas  necessary,  the  obstacles 
to  which,  and  its  enormous  expense,  had  always  fright- 
ened off  his  predecessors ;  but  now  calling  the  bour- 
geois and  the  Prevot  de  la  Ville  together,  he  com- 
manded, in  the  name  of  the  royal  authority,  that 
each  quarter  should  be  solidly  paved  with  hard  stones." 
The  room  where  this  scene  took  place  was  afterwards 
called  the  Hall  Royal,  or  the  Great  Hall.  The  apart- 
ments of  the  King  looked  westward  over  the  garden 
on  one  side,  and  on  the  other  into  a  square  court 
surrounded  by  a  sort  of  cloister,  which  later  became 
one  of  the  inner  yards  of  the  Conciergerie.  The 
garden  was  of  considerable  size  5  it  covered  nearly 
the  whole  site  of  the  present  Prefecture  de  Police, 
running  out  to  the  Place  Dauphine  *,  a  door  in  the 
northern  wall  communicated  with  the  interior  of  the 
Palace.  Later  it  was  used  as  an  egress  by  those  who 
had  brought  their  minor  grievances  and  complaints 
to  be  heard  by  Saint  Louis.  There  is  the  doorway 
still  standing  to-day  between  the  twin  towers  on  the 
quay,  and  there  is  perhaps  no  building  in  the  whole 
town  where   the   old   and   the  new  of  two  thousand 


150  PAEIS. 

years,  from  the  Romans  to  the  third  Republic,  are  so 
blended.  All  hearings  of  importance  were  held  in 
the  room  called  later  the  Grande  Chambre,  but  it  was 
one  of  Louis'  greatest  pleasures  to  hold  this  informal 
court,  to  which  the  poor  and  friendless  could  bring 
their  wrongs  and  have  them  promptly  redressed. 
These  simple  processes  were  called  pleadings  of  the 
door,  from  the  place  where  they  were  held.  When 
the  weather  was  fine  Louis  sometimes  held  these  sit- 
tings in  the  garden,  where  Joinville  describes  him 
seated  on  a  carpet  with  the  officers  of  his  court,  giv- 
ing audiences  to  all  who  chose  to  come.  Simplicity 
yet  hngered,  the  hollo^\^less  of  the  fourteenth  century 
was  yet  to  come.  A  memento  of  his  more  practical 
charities  is  still  to  be  found  in  the  yard  of  the  Con- 
ciergerie,  where  some  large  stones,  near  Marie  An- 
toinette's cell,  are  called  the  tables  of  Saint  Louis' 
charity,  as  he  is  supposed  to  have  been  in  the  habit 
of  leaving  bread  on  them  for  the  poor. 

Although  we  have  no  actual  proof,  it  seems  prob- 
able that  Philip-Augustus  began  the  alterations  and 
additions  of  the  Palace  of  Hugh  Capet,  and  that 
Saint  Louis  carried  the  work  on.  The  two  towers, 
the  Tour  d^ Argent  and  the  Tour  de  Cesar,  which  we 
have  referred  to  as  flanking  the  doorway  on  the  north, 
then  the  principal  entrance  to  the  Palais,  are  of  pre- 
cisely the  same  size  and  height  as  those  which  Philip 
built  at  intervals  in  the  wall  surrounding  the  Louvre, 
and  would  hence  seem  to  belong  to  the  same  period. 


PAKIS  OF  THE  EARLY  MIDDLE  AGES.         151 

The  labyrinth  of  constructions  which  reach,  on  the 
ground  floor,  ahnost  from  the  Conciergerie  to  the 
Sainte  Chapelle,  correspond  so  exactly  with  the  char- 
acter and  details  of  the  latter  that  there  can  be  no 
doubt  of  their  having  been  built  at  the  same  time. 

The  cii'cumstances  which  led  to  the  building  of  the 
Sainte  Chapelle  are  well  known.  Baldwin,  the  son- 
in-law  of  Jean  de  Brienne,  Emperor  of  Constanti- 
nople, had  promised  the  crown  of  thorns,  which  Avas 
preserved  in  the  treasury  of  the  Byzantine  Em- 
perors, to  the  King  of  France  ;  but  on  his  return  to 
Constantinople  he  found  his  father-in-law  dead  and 
the  relic  in  the  hands  of  the  Venetians,  wdio  held  it 
as  a  pledge  for  a  sum  of  about  a  hundred  thousand 
francs  (in  modern  money),  loaned  by  them.  This 
Saint  Louis  paid,  and,  to  his  inexpressible  joy,  be- 
came its  possessor.  It  was  in  August,  1239,  that 
the  crown  of  thorns  reached  Paris  ;  it  was  first  de- 
posited at  Vincennes,  whence  the  monks  of  St. 
Denis  transported  it,  first,  to  Notre  Dame,  and  then 
to  the  Chapel  of  St.  Nicolas  in  the  Palace. 

Three  years  later,  Baldwin,  who  hoped  the  King 
might  be  induced  to  undertake  another  Crusade,  sent 
him  that  famous  iron  tip  of  the  lance  that  had  pierced 
the  Saviour's  side,  the  holy  lance  of  Antioch,  the 
chief  glory  of  the  first  Crusade,  also  a  piece  of  the 
true  cross,  and  other  precious  objects.  During  a 
serious  illness,  in  1244,  Louis  did  in  fact  make  a  vow 
to  go  on  a  new  Crusade,  but  not  until  he  had  pro- 


152  PAEIS. 

vidcd  a  suitable  place  for  the  precious  relics.  M. 
Edouard  Founder  states  that  Michelet  is  mistaken 
when  ho  says  of  the  Sainte  Chapelle  that  the  King 
"  had  it  built  on  his  return  from  the  Crusade  by 
Eudcs  de  Montreuil,  whom  he  brought  Avith  him,"  as  it 
was  biult  before  the  Crusade  by  Pierre  de  Montereau. 
This  exquisite  building,  a  veritable  shrine,  just  as 
it  was  intended  to  be,  a  "  model  of  pure  Gothic,"  was 
completed  in  three  years.  The  upper  chapel  was 
dedicated  to  the  Holy  Cross  and  the  Holy  Crown,  the 
lower  to  the  Virgin  ;  in  the  tympanum  of  the  latter 
was  a  bas-relief  of  the  death  of  the  Virgin;  there  was 
also  a  statue  of  Our  Lady,  and  in  the  losanges  of  the 
stylobate  of  the  arches  the  lilies  of  France  alternated 
with  the  towers  of  Castile  in  memory  of  Queen 
Blanche,  the  King's  mother.  In  the  upper  chapel 
were  sculptures  of  the  Last  Judgment,  Christ  bless- 
ing with  the  right  hand  and  holding  a  globe  in  the 
other,  and  curious  figures  of  two  angels,  one  thrust- 
ing his  hand  in  a  pot  and  the  other  holding  his  in  a 
cloud.  The  original  building  probably  had  a  spire, 
but  not  the  outer  stair,  which  we  shall  find  to  have 
been  added  later.  The  upper  chapel  was  reached 
from  the  Palace  by  galleries  on  the  same  level ;  here 
Louis  erected  a  smaller  building  of  similar  style,  also 
in  two  stories.  The  lower  was  used  as  a  sacristy,  while 
in  the  upper,  under  the  protection,  as  it  were,  of  the 
Holy  Relics,  was  the  Tresor  dcs  charfes,  property  of 
the  crown.      All  that  now  remains  of  this  annex  is 


PARIS  OF  THE  EARLY  MIDDLE  AGES.         153 

the  little  gallery  that  connected  it  with  the  Sainte 
Chapelle  ;  the  remainder  Avas  swept  away  in  1777  to 
make  room  for  the  Great  Court.  Of  the  two  wooden 
stairways  enclosed  in  open-work  turrets,  which  stand 
on  either  side  of  the  sanctuary,  that  on  the  north  is 
the  one  by  which  kSaint  Louis  used  to  mount  to  the 
great  golden  tabernacle  studded  Avith  precious  stones, 
whence  on  the  great  feasts  he  would  display  the  Holy 
Crown  to  the  faithful  kneeling  devoutly  in  the  nave 
below,  he  only  having  the  right  to  take  it  from  the 
reliquary.  On  the  Sunday  after  Easter,  April  25, 
1248,  the  chapel  was  consecrated  with  a  double  ser- 
vice, the  Bishop  of  Tusculum,  Papal  Legate,  dedi- 
cating the  upper  church,  and  the  Archbishop  of 
Bourges  the  lower.  In  August  of  the  same  year 
Louis  set  forth  on  the  Crusade  to  which  he  Avas 
pledged.  Sailing  first  for  Egypt,  which  a  tradition 
current  in  the  Royal  Palace  said  was  to  be  conquered 
by  a  King  of  France,  Saint  Louis  got  nothing  there 
but  imprisonment.  The  tradition  only  needs  time ;  it 
was  nearly  verified  in  Napoleon's  campaign. 

On  his  return  from  the  first  Crusade  Louis  enter- 
tained the  King  of  England  (Henry  HI.)  in  the  Palais 
de  la  Cite,  receiving  his  allegiance  for  the  fief  of 
Aquitaine  in  the  Palace  garden  ;  but  the  building  was 
liardly  large  enough  to  accommodate  such  guests 
comfortably,  and  Saint  Louis'  grandson,  Philip  le  Bel, 
determined  to  enlarge  it,  with  the  result  that  Enguer- 
rand  de  Marigny,  who  had  charge  of  the  work,  added 


154  PAEIS. 

one  apartment  after  another  until  the  original  palace 
"was  completely  overshadowed  by  the  new  and  mag- 
nificent structure,  and  came  to  be  spoken  of  as  "  the 
little  palace  called  the  hall  of  Saint  Louis."  The 
additions  were  made  principally  on  the  south  and 
east.  All  the  buildings  that  stood  in  the  way  on  the 
Rue  Barillerie  (nearly  identical  with  the  present  Bou- 
levard du  Palais)  Avere  demolished,  just  as  woidd  be 
done  to-day,  by  "  dispossession  for  public  purposes." 
The  little  Church  of  St. -Michel  de  la  Place,  stand- 
ing about  where  the  offices  of  the  Jugcs  d'lnstruc- 
tion  do  now,  Avas  spared,  however,  and  enclosed  within 
the  precincts  of  the  Palais.  The  eastern  fa9ade  now 
stood  on  a  line  with  the  bridge  that  had  replaced  the 
one  swept  away  in  the  inundation  of  1296 ;  this  new 
bridge,  called  Pont  au  Change,  connected  the  Rue 
Barillerie  Avith  the  Grand  Chatelet,  and  Avas  lined  on 
either  side  Avith  goldsmiths,  jewellers  and  money- 
coiners'  establishments,  from  the  last  of  Avhom  it  got  its 
name.  On  this  side  of  the  Palace  was  a  deep  trench 
or  moat,  across  A\diich  draAvbridges  Avere  throAvn  from 
each  of  the  two  entrances  flanked  by  toAvers.  The 
northern  facade  of  the  Palace  had  only  to  be  carried 
on  a  little  further  in  order  to  join  it  to  the  ncAv  Avail 
on  the  east.  To  do  this  a  bit  of  marshy  bank  had  to 
be  filled  in,  and  a  Avindmill,  called  the  Chante-Reitie, 
from  the  mud-bank  into  Avhich  its  piles  Avere  driven, 
pulled  doAvn.  The  square  tOAver  erected  on  this  site  is 
still  standing,  and  goes  by  its  original  name,  the  Tour 


PAEIS  OF  THE  EAKLY  MIDDLE  AGES.        155 

de  THorlogc.  As  you  come  over  the  bridge  to-day  to 
go  to  the  Palais  de  Justice  (if  you  are  approaching 
from  the  northern  bank)  it  is  the  conspicuous  near 
corner  with  its  great  gilt  clock. 

The  chief  glory  of  the  new  Palace  Avas  the  Grande 
Salle,  with  its  great  double-arched  roof  of  carved 
and  gilded  wood-work  against  a  blue  background 
(much  as  in  the  Sainte  Chapelle).  Down  the  centre 
a  row  of  eight  huge  columns  supported  the  spring 
of  the  arches  and  divided  the  hall  in  two.  The  floor 
was  paved  with  alternate  blocks  of  white  and  black 
marble,  as  were  almost  all  the  great  Halls  of  Justice 
of  that  period,  a  circumstance  that  gave  the  name  of 
echiquier  to  the  supreme  court  of  Normandy.*  But 
the  most  curious  feature  of  the  Grande  Salle  was  the 
series  of  painted  and  gilded  statues  of  all  the  Kings 
who  had  ever  reigned  over  France.  They  were  placed 
high  up  on  brackets  against  the  central  columns  and  the 
pilasters  from  which  the  vaultings  of  the  roof  sprang, 
and  under  each  statue  was  inscribed  a  summary  of  the 
reign.  This  custom  was  kept  up  until  the  time  of 
Charles  IX.  Enguerrand  de  Marigny,  who  had  di- 
rected all  the  work  on  the  new  Palace,  wishing  to 
share  some  of  the  glory,  caused  a  statue  of  himself 
to  be  placed  over  the  stairway  to  the  Gallerie  aux 
Merciers  which  led  from  the  Grande  Salle  to  the 
Sainte    Chapelle  •,    a  rather    unfortunate  choice  of  a 

*  But  this  custom,  again,  may  be  traced  to  the  earlier  one  of  a 

similar  pattern  on  the  Kirufs  money-table,  to  facilitate  counting. 


156  PAEIS. 

position,  since  he  had  been  accused  of  hiring  out  the 
stalls  of  this  gallery  (supposed  to  be  given  free  to 
tlie  trades  people)  and  keeping  the  proceeds.  The 
memory  of  these  stalls  or  booths,  where  all  sorts  of 
merchandise,  and  especially  gold  ornaments  and  jew- 
elry, were  sold,  is  still  preserved,  for  in  the  same  gal- 
lery, called  to-day  MarcJicoide,  caps  and  gowns  are 
exposed  for  hire. 

The  magnificent  new  Palace  Avas  opened  with 
great  rejoicings  in  1313,  the  King  making  it  a 
double  fete  by  knighting  his  three  sons,  Louis, 
Philip,  and  Charles,  at  the  Louvre.  The  festivities 
lasted  eight  days,  during  which  period  the  people  of 
Paris  kept  their  shops  closed  so  as  to  "  accommo- 
date themselves  to  the  joy  of  the  Prince,"  though 
hardly,  as  M.  Fournier  observes,  to  share  it,  since,  by 
means  of  a  special  tax,  they  were  obliged  to  bear  the 
enormous  expenses  of  the  joyful  occasion. 

The  policy  of  Philip  le  Bel  was  in  fact  very  differ- 
ent from  that  of  his  grandfather  Saint  Louis,  notably 
in  his  attitude  towards  the  clergy,  the  distinctly 
lay  constitution  that  he  gave  to  his  Parliament  being 
a  blow  directed  against  their  growing  influence  and 
pretensions.  From  1289  there  was  an  order  in  force, 
issued  by  him,  forbidding  the  doorkeepers  to  admit 
any  prelates  to  the  chamber  without  the  consent  of 
the  heads  of  the  Parlement.  Under  his  successors, 
Louis  X.  and  Philip  le  Long,  the  functions  of  this 
Parliament,  the  real  foundation  of  the  French  courts 


PARIS  OF  THE  EARLY  MIDDLE  AGES.         157 

of  to-day,  became  more  clearly  defined,  and  a  cham- 
ber of  inquiry  and  a  chanihcr  for  pleading  were  es-  \ 
tablished. 

When  Philippe  Y.  inherited  the  throne  on  the 
death  of  his  brother's  posthumous  child,  there  was  a 
solemn  assembly  at  the  Palais  of  all  the  officers  of  the 
crown — a  great  Parliament — to  confirm  the  succes- 
sion. Nothing  had  ever  been  held  on  a  similar  scale. 
Geoffry  of  Paris  tells  how  all  the  merchants  and 
hangers-on  of  the  court  were  driven  out,  in  order  to 
clear  the  galleries  and  approaches.  No  doubt  these, 
disappointed  of  a  closer  view,  joined  the  crowds 
swarming  up  the  Rue  de  la  Pelleterie  and  the  Rue 
de  la  Calandre  into  the  Barillerie,  striving  to  catch 
at  least  a  glimpse  of  all  the  grandeur  and  magnifi- 
cence within. 

The  part  of  the  Island  of  la  Cite  lying  between  the  z' 
Palais  and  the  Church  of  Notre  Dame  Avas  a  tangle  W 
of  little  crooked  streets,  flanked  by  closely  built-up 
houses  and  churches,  no  less  than  four  of  the  latter 
in  this  narrow  district  alone — Ste.  Croix,  St.  Bar- 
tholomew, St.  Eloy  and  St.  Germain  ;  the  last  three 
have  been  alluded  to  in  a  former  chapter.  St. 
Bartholomew  we  find  taking  a  position  of  great  im- 
portance in  1140;  from  being  the  chapel  Royal  it 
now  becomes  the  parish  church  of  the  Palace,  its 
out-buildings  and  dependencies.  Even  the  found- 
ing of  the  Sainte  Chapelle  itself  is  not  allowed  to  in- 
terfere with  its  peculiar  rights;  rights  which  the  clergy 


158  PARIS. 

proclaim  yearly  by  Avalking  in  solemn  procession 
around  the  palace,  and  through  the  court,  the  gal- 
leries, and  into  the  great  hall,  where,  moreover,  they 
preach  on  all  the  Sundays  of  Lent,  Good  Friday,  and 
on  Easter  day. 

To  the  Cure  of  St.  Bartholomew  are  given  the 
offerings  made  at  the  red  Mass,  celebrated  when  Par- 
liament meets,  in  the  Chapel  of  St.  Nicolas. 

li         North  and  east  of  the  church  was  the  Jewish  quar- 
ter, the  Ghetto  of  Paris,  a  swarming  district  through 
which  ran  the  street  called  de  la  Pelleterie,  after  the 
Jews    had  been  expelled  by  Philip-Augustus,   their 
,    property  confiscated,  and  the  tanners  installed  in  their 
/     place.     The  synagogue  of  these  unfortunate  people, 

\  which  was  on  the  other  side  of  the  Rue  de  la  Juiverie 
(Rue  de  la  Cite  of  to-day),  was  given  to  the  Bishop 
of  Paris  to  be  turned  into  a  church — La  Madeleine 
de  la  Cite — whose  history  can  be  traced  to  the  middle 
of  the  present  century,  when  it  gave  way  to  the 
Boulevard  Constantine.  Walking  along  this  street  to 
the  south  we  Avould  have  reached,  on  our  right,  the 
Rue  de  la  Calandre,  and,  the  fifth  house  on  the  right, 
la  maison  clii  Paradis,  called  later  the  house  of  the 
images  of  St.  Marcel  and  Ste.  Genevieve.  Here, 
according  to  a  well-founded  tradition,  Marcel,  Bishop 
of  Paris,  was  born  in  the  end  of  the  fourth  century. 
The  Chapel  of  St.  Marcel  consequently  acquired  pos- 
session of  it  in  1230,  while  the  Chapter  of  Notre  Dame 
visited  it  in  solemn  procession  every  year  on  the  feast 


PARIS  OF  THE  EARLY  MIDDLE  AGES.        159 

of  the  Ascension.  A  little  further  on  this  street,  which 
to-day  would  run  through  the  middle  of  the  Barrack 
of  the  Republican  Guard,  skirted  the  southern  limit 
of  the  Ceinture  Saint  Eloy.  We  have  told  in  the  last 
chapter  of  the  founding  of  this  convent,  dedicated 
first  to  Saint  IMartial,  and  later  to  Saint  Eloy  and 
Saint  Aure,  when  it  had  become  an  abbey  under  the 
jurisdiction  of  the  Bishop  of  Paris,  By  the  twelfth 
century  the  discipline  had  groAvni  extremely  lax ;  the 
close  proximity  of  the  court  may  have  been  too  great 
a  temptation  to  worldliness,  but  at  all  events  in  1107, 
Galon,  Bishop  of  Paris,  with  the  approval  of  the  King, 
Philip  I.,  scattered  the  nuns  about  in  various  religious 
houses  and  established  the  monks  of  St.  Pierre  des 
Fosses  in  their  place. 

Between  the  Rue  Calandre  and  the  southern  branch 
of  the  Seine  were  the  Marche-Palu  and  the  Grande 
Orberie — the  former  where  from  very  ancient  times 
a  provision  market  had  been  held,  and  the  latter,  a 
long,  open  space,  sometimes  under  water,  and  at 
others  covered  with  a  rich  vegetation,  the  site  of  the 
Marche  Neuf  of  a  later  period.  The  only  building 
of  interest  in  this  quarter  has  no  especial  connection 
with  the  time  of  which  we  are  treating — St.  Ger- 
main le  Vieux — its  origin  has  already  been  told.  If 
we  follow  the  line  of  the  old  Roman  wall  east,  through 
the  closely  built-up  town  of  that  time,  we  will  come 
out  in  front  of  Notre  Dame.  To-day  this  is  all  in- 
cluded  in   the   open   Place  du  Parvis  Notre  Dame. 


160  PAEIS. 

St.  Germain  le  Vieux  stood  Avliere  the  eastern  side 
of  the  Barrack  of  the  RepubUcan  Guard  is  now,  near 
the  southern  corner. 

When  we  last  spoke  of  Notre  Dame,  the  building 
erected  by  Childebert,  seriously  damaged  by  the  Nor- 
man   invasions,    was    in    constant    need    of   repairs. 
Charles  the   Simple,  Eudes,  Louis  le   Gros,  Etienne 
de  Garlande,  Archdeacon  of  Paris,  M'ho  died  in  1142, 
Suger,   the    Abbot   of    Saint-Denis,    all    contributed 
towards  its  restoration.     Thus,  for  nearly  three  hun- 
dred years,  the  church  which  had  served  as  a  place 
of  worship  for  the  Merovingian  Kings  was  the  Cathe- 
dral of  Paris.     In  1161,  however,  it  became  neces- 
sary to  rebuild  it  from  the  foundations,  and  Maurice 
I        de   Sully,   Bishop  of  Paris,  began  the  work.     Pope 
V,        Alexander  III.,  who  had  taken  refuge  in  France,  laid 
the  corner-stone,  while  the  workmen  knelt  about  him. 
The  building  advanced  with  extraordinary  rapidity, 
/      for  in  1185  Heraclius,  Patriarch  of  Jerusalem,  two 
/         years  before  his  town  fell  forever  to  the  Moslem,  cele- 
,      ,    brated  mass  at   the  newly -finished  altar,  in  front  of 
I         which  two  years  later  Jeoffry,  son  of  Henry  II.  of 
0  ■        England,  was  buried,  while  Maurice  de  Sully,  who 
died  in   September,  1196,  left  a  hundred  pounds  to 
pay  for  lead  to  overlay  the  roof  of  the  choir,  show- 
V         ing  hoAv  far  the  work  must  have  advanced.     In  1218 
some   thieves,  while   attempting   to   drag  down   the 
silver   chandeliers   in   which   candles   were   burning, 
set  fire  to  the  hangings  of  the  choir,  and  so  to  the 


PARIS  OF  THE  EARLY  MIDDLE  AGES.         161 

whole  church.  The  result  was  disastrous.  The  flying 
buttresses,  corresponding  to  two  arches  of  the  nave 
and  choir,  were  seriously  damaged,  and  instead  of 
restoring  them  they  seized  the  opportunity  to  adopt 
a  new  style  of  decoration,  then  becoming  very  popular. 
The  rose-windows  above  the  gallery  w^ere  done  away 
wdth,  the  upper  windows  cut  down  as  far  as  the  archi- 
volt  of  the  galleries,  the  flying  buttresses  with  their 
double  arches  were  demolished,  and  the  vaults  of 
the  triforium  lowered  so  as  to  reduce  the  height 
of  its  wmdows.  According  to  Guilhermy  and  Viol- 
let-le-Duc,  these  alterations  destroyed  the  majes- 
tic effect  of  the  original  plan.  The  western  fac^ade 
was  erected  about  the  beginning  of  the  thirteenth 
century,  and  it  was  then  that  the  old  Cathedral 
Church,  St.  Etienne,  Avhich  had  been  left  standing 
while  the  other  was  building,  so  that  the  services  of 
the  church  might  continue  without  interruption,  was 
pulled  down.  As  has  been  mentioned  before,  the 
present  sacristy  stands  on  the  site  of  its  eastern  end. 
The  relics  preserved  in  St.  Etienne  were  transported 
to  the  new  church. 

When  Philip- Augustus  died  the  great  doorway  had 
been  carried  up  as  far  as  the  base  of  the  open  gallery 
connecting  the  two  towers  ;  these  towers  were  fin- 
ished in  the  reign  of  Saint  Louis.  The  Porte -Rouge 
and  chapels  immediately  beyond  tlie  transept  prob- 
ably date  from  the  early  part  of  the  thirteenth  cen- 
tury, while  an  inscription  on  the  base  of  the  statue 

11 


162  PAEIS. 

of  Simon  de  Buci,  Bishop  of  Paris,  who  died  in  1304, 
states  that  he  built  three  of  the  chapels  of  the  Apse, 
and  that  the  others  followed  immediately  after.  This 
statue  was  found  in  the  cellar  of  the  sacristy,  and  has 
been  placed  behind  the  sanctuary.  By  the  middle 
of  the  thirteenth  century,  that  is,  when  Saint  Louis 
was  grown  a  man,  the  church  seems  to  have  been 
completed  in  all  its  details,  and  from  then  to  the 
seventeenth  century  to  have  undergone  no  alterations 
of  any  consequence. 

It  would  be  quite  out  of  the  scope  of  this  work  to 
enter  into  detailed  descriptions  of  buildings  the  out- 
lines of  whose  histories  we  have  barely  space  to  trace. 
Especially  is  this  so  of  Notre  Dame,  which  has  been 
alone  the  subject  of  numberless  volumes.  "  There  is 
hardly  any  work  of  architecture  in  the  whole  world," 
says  Philip  Gilbert  Hamerton,  "  except  one  or  two 
Greek  temples,  which  has  evoked  the  same  kind  and 
degree  of  admiration  as  the  west  front  of  Notre 
Dame."  And  the  same  remark  might  almost  be 
made  of  that  wonderful  interior,  in  whose  majestic 
proportions  we  see  traces  of  that  Romanesque  spirit 
which  had  not  as  yet  completely  yielded  to  the  Gothic. 
From  the  upper  gallery,  called  Les  Tribunes,  running 
around  the  inner  of  the  two  aisles,  how  many  mag- 
nificent ceremonies  have  been  witnessed  in  the  six 
hundi'ed  years  of  its  existence!  Of  the  old  building, 
probably  the  last  great  function  was  when  Alix  of 
Champagne,  third  wife  of  Louis  VII.,  was  married, 


PARIS  OF  THE  EARLY  MIDDLE  AGES.        163 

consecrated  and  crowned  on  the  13th  of  Novem- 
ber, 1160,  by  the  Archbishop  of  Sens.  In  1229 
Raymond  VII.,  Count  of  Toulouse,  knelt  barefoot 
before  the  Papal  Legate  in  the  newly-finished  cathe- 
dral to  receive  absolutix)n ;  and  here  ten  years  later 
comes  the  Saint-King,  he,  too,  barefoot  and  clad 
only  in  a  simple  tunic,  bearing  in  deepest  humility 
the  sacred  Crown  of  Thorns.  After  his  death  in 
1270  his  body  was  laid  before  the  high  altar  before 
being  taken  to  St.  Denis.  The  first  assembly  of 
the  states-general  under  Philippe  le  Bel  was  held  in 
Notre  Dame  in  1302,  and  this  King,  in  accordance 
with  a  vow  made  on  the  battlefield  of  Mons-en-Puelle, 
rode  into  the  church  on  horseback  to  present  his  suit 
of  mail  to  the  Virgin,  by  whose  intercession  the  vic- 
tory had  been  won. 

The  space  before  the  west  front,  called  the  Parvis 
Notre  Dame,  was  formerly  only  about  one-fifth  the  size 
of  the  present  Place  ;  it  was  surrounded  by  high  walls 
and  entered  by  gates  to  which  steps  led  from  the 
lower  level  of  the  surrounding  streets.  In  the  thir- 
teenth century  a  market  was  held  here  every  Sunday 
by  the  bakers,  who  then  sold  all  the  bread  they  had 
been  unable  to  dispose  of  during  the  week  to  the 
poor.  It  was  the  custom  for  many  hundreds  of  years 
to  bring  criminals  here  on  their  way  to  execution, 
that  they  might  make  public  expression  of  repentance 
for  their  crimes. 

On    the  west  of  the    Parvis  Notre   Dame    there 


y 


164  PARIS. 

was,  in  all  probability  from  very  early  times,  some 
sort  of  hospital  for  the  sick  and  needy  ;  it  is  not,  how- 
ever, until  829  that  we  find  any  distinct  mention  of 
it  imder  the  name  of  St.  Christopher.  This  Car- 
lo vingian  building  was  pulled  down  in  1184,  when 
the  Rue  Notre  Dame  was  opened.  Philip-Augustus 
then  began  the  new  one,  the  Hotel-Dieu ;  it  was  car- 
ried on  by  Blanche  of  Castile,  and  completed  by  her 
son.  Saint  Louis,  who  erected  a  long  hall  on  the 
southern  arm  of  the  Seine,  supported  on  piles,  called 
the  Salle  Neuve  or  Salle  Jeune,  and  to  which  he 
added  two  chapels.  For  nearly  two  hundred  years 
after  this  we  hear  but  little  of  the  Hotel-Dieu. 

No  less  than  eight  smaller  churches  clustered  around 
the  Cathedral  on  the  eastern  end  of  the  island.  St. 
Landry,  where  the  north-east  corner  of  the  Hotel- 
Dieu  now  stands,  which  had  been  the  chapel  of  St. 
Nicolas;  St.  Agnan,  east  of  the  Rue  de  la  Colorabe, 
established  in  1118  by  Etienne  de  Garlande,  who  is 
said  to  have  found  Saint  Bernard  prostrate  before  its 
altar,  where  he  had  passed  a  whole  day  in  fasting  and 
tears  because  he  thought  that  God  had  withdrawn 
from  him  the  power  to  bring  sinners  to  repentance ; 
St.  Marine,  across  Avhose  western  end  the  Rue 
d' Areola  would  now  run  ;  its  origin  is  unknown,  but 
it  existed  in  1045,  the  parish  consisting  of  twenty 
houses,  all  embraced  within  the  court  of  the  Episcopal 
Palace ;  St.  Pierre  aux  Boeufs,  partly  where  the 
eastern  fa9ade  of  the  Hotel-Dieu  now  stands  and 


PAKIS  OF  THE  EARLY  MIDDLE  AGES.         165 

partly  where  the  Rue  d'Arcole  lies,  the  special  church 
of  the  Corporation  of  Butchers ;  St.  Jean  le  Rond, 
standing  just  where  the  Rue  du  Clotre  Notre  Dame 
opens  into  the  Place,  and  originally  the  Baptistery  of 
the  Church ;  St.  Christopher,  which  the  line  of  the 
southern  wall  of  the  Hotel-Dieu  would  divide  in  half, 
and  of  whose  early  history  nothing  definite  is  known ; 
Ste.  Genevieve  des  Ardents,  near  the  north-west 
corner  of  the  present  Place,  of  which  we  have  noth- 
ing trustworthy  at  this  period  ;  and  St.  Denis  du 
Pas,  directly  behind  the  church,  its  east  end  extend- 
ing into  the  site  of  the  present  square.  A  little  to  the 
south-west  of  this,  between  the  Cathedral  and  the 
south  arm  of  the  Seine,  rose  the  Episcopal  Palace 
built  by  Maurice  de  Sully;  the  sacristy  now  stands 
on  a  part  of  its  site.  Running  along  the  entire  north- 
east bank  were  the  cloisters.  These  were  quite  un- 
like the  usual  cloisters  of  a  monastery,  and  resembled 
more  a  small  village  or  settlement  surrounded  by 
walls,  whose  gates  were  kept  carefully  closed.  There 
were  a  number  of  separate  houses,  each  surrounded 
by  its  own  garden  and  commanding  a  view  of  the 
river.  Here  Louis  le  Jeune  declared  he  had  passed 
the  happiest  months  of  his  life,  and  here  Saint  Dom- 
inic lived  during  his  brief  stay  in  Paris.  But  what 
reflects  perhaps  more  glory  upon  the  cloister  of  Notre 
Dame  than  the  sojourn  there  of  Saint  or  King,  is  its 
association  with  the  University  of  Paris.  Before  the 
first    schools    were    opened    on    the    Montagne    Ste. 


166  PAEIS. 

Genevieve  there  were  others  established  here,  to 
which  students  flocked  from  all  over  Europe — schools 
with  which  the  names  of  William  of  Champeaux, 
Abelard  and  Saint  Bernard  are  indissolubly  connected. 
When  the  University  was  transported  to  the  left  bank 
of  the  Seine,  all  that  remained  to  tell  of  its  former 
existence  near  the  Cathedral  was  the  little  college  of 

/  the  Dix-Huit,  which  occupied  a  shigle  room  in  the 
Hotel-Dieu.  Let  us  walk  down  the  Rue  du  Marche 
Palu,  and  crossing  the  Petit-Pont,  where,  by  the  Avay, 
we  shall  have  to  pay  toll,  follow  the  University  to  its 
new  home.  At  the  south  end  of  the  bridge  we  pass 
under  the  Petit-Chatelet,  rebuilt  after  the  Norman 
siege.  Both  it  and  the  Petit-Pont  were  carried  away 
by  an  inundation  in  1296,  and  neither  of  them  recon- 
structed until  the  early  years  of  the  reign  of  Charles 
V.  in  the  next  century. 

Before  us  stretches  the  Rue  St.  Jacques,  the 
Roman  road  to  Genabum,  and,  off  to  the  left,  first  the 
Rue  de  la  Bucherie  and  then  the  Rue  Galarde,  run- 
ning nearly  parallel  with  the  river.  Between  them 
stands  the  Priory  of  St.  Julien  le  Pauvre,  where 
Gregory  of  Tours  lodged  when  he  visited  Paris  in 
580.      After  the  thirteenth  century  the  University 

v^  frequently  held  its  meetings  there,  and  there  came 
the  Provost  of  Paris  every  two  years,  in  obedience 
to  a  decree  of  Phihppe  le  Bel,  to  make  solemn  oath 
that  he  would  see  the  rights  of  the  masters  and 
students  respected,  and  would  himself  respect  them. 


PARIS  OF  THE  EARLY  MIDDLE  AGES.         167 

Behind  St.  Julien  le  Pauvre  (that  is,  east  of  it)  was 
and  still  is  the  Rue  Fouarre.  Here,  in  the  thirteenth 
century,  Avere  the  earhest  scliools  des  Qiiatre  Nations, 
the  Faculty  of  the  Arts  ;  the  four  nations  were  France,  V 
Normandy,  England  and  Picardy.  The  only  seats 
provided  for  the  students  consisted  of  some  straw 
{feuarre  or  fouarre)  scattered  over  the  floor ;  from  . 
this  the  street  took  its  name.  The  name  of  the  street 
that  now  crosses  diagonally  from  the  Rue  Lagrange 
to  the  junction  of  the  Rue  St.  Jacques  and  the 
Boulevard  St.  Germain  recalls  the  tradition  founded 
on  an  allusion  in  II  Paradise,  that  Dante  was  one  of 
the  scholars  who  here  thronged  to  the  lectures  of  the 
learned  Siger  de  Brabant.* 

Near  by,  in  the  Rue  Bucherie,  was  the  School  of  y/ 
Medicine,  the  first  record  of  Avhich  dates  from  the 
beginning  of  the  thirteenth  century,  though  there 
can  be  no  doubt  that  one  had  existed  much  earlier. 
The  medical  faculty  seem  to  have  been  less  fortunate 
in  obtaining  a  building  of  their  own,  than  the  arts  for 
instance ;  some  time  after  the  establishment  of  a 
number  of  other  colleges,  some  of  them  even  well 
endowed,  they  were  obliged  to  meet  in  different 
places,  sometimes  at  Ste. -Genevieve  des  Ardents  and 
sometimes  in  Notre  Dame  itself,  where  masters  and 

*  Essa  la  luce  eterna  de  Sigeri, 

Che  leggendo  nel  vico  degli  strami. 
Sillogizzo  invidiosi  veri. 

— Paeadiso,  Canto  X. 


168  PAEIS. 

scholars  gathered  about  tlie  great  stone  Holy  Water 
basins  placed  under  the  towers. 

Just  in  the  line  of  the  modern  Rue  des  Ecoles 
stood  the  Commandery  of  the  Knights  Hospitallers, 
St.  Jean  de  Jerusalem,  a  Hotel,  a  church,  and  a 
square,  four-storied  tower;  and  a  little  higher  up  the 
hill,  wdiich  had  now  come  to  be  called  Mont  Ste.- 
Genevieve,  the  Church  of  St.-Etienne  du  Mont,  the 
Abbey  of  Ste. -Genevieve,  whose  earlier  history  we 
have  already  given,  standing  close  by.  Notwith- 
standing the  miracles  worked  at  the  Saint's  tomb, 
and  her  growing  popularity  Avith  the  people,  this 
church,  originally  dedicated  to  the  Apostles  Peter  and 
Paul,  had  been  more  or  less  neglected  until  1148, 
when  it  was  given  to  the  Canons  of  St. -Victor,  in 
W'hose  hands  it  became  one  of  the  most  flourishing 
abbeys  in  France.  The  modest  Avooden  shrine  in 
which  the  relics  had  been  kept  was  replaced  by  one 
made  of  gold  and  silver,  studded  with  precious  stones, 
and  ornamented  with  a  statue  of  the  Saint,  the  Vir- 
gin, and  the  Twelve  Apostles  ;  this  the  canons  car- 
ried through  the  streets  in  procession  whenever  any 
public  calamity  threatened  the  city ;  and  before  it  the 
swollen  waters  of  the  Seine  seemed  to  subside,  and 
plagues  and  pestilences  to  cease.  The  Chancellor  of 
the  Abbey  exerted  a  good  deal  of  influence  upon  the 
affairs  of  the  University  ;  he  had  the  right  to  appoint 
teachers  and  to  select  the  examiners,  received  their 
oaths  faithfully  to  fulfll  the  duties  of  their  offices,  and, 


PARIS  OF  THE  EARLY  MIDDLE  AGES.         169 

finally,  it  was  he  who  conferred  the  degrees  upon 
the  successful  students.  It  is  on  the  site  of  this 
Abbey  that  the  Pantheon  now  stands.  On  a  part 
of  the  site  of  the  Lycee  Louis-le-Grand  stood  the 
CoUege  des  Cholets,  founded  in  1295  by  Cardinal 
Jean  Cholet  for  poor  students  from  the  dioceses  of 
Beaudair  and  Amiens ;  it  was  entirely  devoted  to  the 
study  of  sacred  science,  the  students  qualifying  only 
for  degrees  in  theology.  Directly  opposite  it,  but 
facing  on  the  Rue  St.  Jacques,  was  one  of  the  oldest 
churches  in  Paris,  St.-Etienne  des  Gres,  which  ex- 
isted, at  least  as  an  oratory,  as  far  back  as  the  sev- 
enth century.  Here  came  Saint  Francis  de  Sales, 
when  he  was  a  student,  to  pray  before  the  statue  of 
Our  Lady  of  Good  Dehverance.  The  church  Avas 
demolished  during  the  Revolution,  but  the  statue  of 
the  Virgin  was  saved,  and  may  now  be  seen  in  the 
Chapel  of  the  Sisters  of  St.-Thomas  de  Villeneuve, 
in  the  Rue  Sevres. 

On  the  other  side  of  the  Rue  St.  Jacques  was  the 
Jacobin  convent,  covering  the  entire  space  between 
the  present  Rue  St.-Jacques  and  Rue  St.-Michel,  with 
the  Hotel  Cluny  on  the  north,  and  on  the  south  the  site 
of  the  wall  of  Philip-Augustus.  This  famous  con- 
vent was  at  first  nothing  but  a  chapel  dedicated  to 
Saint  Jacques,  and  under  the  patronage  of  the  Uni- 
versity, but  in  1221  it  was  given  to  seven  brothers 
of  the  Order  of  Preachers,  lately  founded  by  Saint 
Dominic ;  the  people  called  them  Jacobins,  from  the 


170  PAEIS. 

name  of  the  chapel.  The  monks,  determined  to  take 
part  in  the  intellectual  life  about  them,  founded  chairs 
of  theology,  and  their  convent  soon  became  so  cele- 
brated as  a  seat  of  learning  that  the  University, 
which  at  first  had  been  friendly  to  the  Jacobins,  now 
tried  to  suppress  them.  The  attempt  fortunately 
failed,  and  the  lectures  and  writings  which  emanated 
from  this  convent  contributed  not  a  little  to  the  glory 
of  the  University. 

Let  us  now  skirt  the  wall  of  Philip- Augustus  to 
the  Gate  of  St. -Michel,  sometimes  called  Gibard,  and 
sometimes  D'Enfer ;  turning  to  the  right  we  find  the 
College  de  Cluny,  founded  in  1269  by  an  Abbot  of 
Cluny.  The  church,  built  some  years  later,  is  de- 
scribed by  M.  de  Guilhermy  as  having  been  a  mas- 
terpiece of  architecture,  worthy  to  be  compared  Avith 
the  Ste.  Chapelle  itself.  Here  the  painter  David  had 
his  studio  for  some  years,  but  it  Avas  pulled  down  in 
the  present  century,  and  a  few  fragments  of  stone 
carving  in  the  Musee  de  Cluny  are  all  that  remain  to 
bear  witness  to  its  exquisite  beauty.  Close  by,  where 
the  Place  de  la  Sorbonne  and  the  Boulevard  St.- 
Michel  meet  now,  was  the  College  du  Tresorier, 
founded  in  1268  for  twelve  students  of  theology  and 
twelve  of  arts,  the  originals  of  the  Archdeaconries  of 
the  Grand  and  Petit  Caux.  Some  twelve  years  ear- 
lier a  professor  of  theology,  a  native  of  Cerbon  (Sor- 
bon,  Sorbonne),  had  purchased  a  number  of  houses 
standing   a  little  further  north,  to  establish  a  college 


PAKIS  OF  THE  EAKLY  MIDDLE  AGES.         171 

for  poor  theological  students.  Saint-Louis  added 
another  house  nearer  the  Palais  des  Thermos,  and 
the  Church  from  the  beginning  protected  and  helped 
the  new  foundation.  The  legacy  of  the  library  of 
Gerard  d' Abbeville  (about  three  hundred  volumes, 
one  hundred  and  eighteen  of  which  are  now  in  the 
Bibliotheque  Nationale)  was  the  beginning  of  the 
magnificent  library  for  which  the  institution  became 
famous.  On  the  other  side  of  the  Rue  de  la  Harpe 
(Boulevard  St.-Michel)  the  College  d'Harcourt  cov- 
ered a  part  of  the  site  of  the  present  Lycee  St.-Louis. 
It  was  founded  in  1280  by  Raoul  d'Harcourt  Avith 
forty  scholarships  ;  opposite  stood  the  less  important 
colleges  of  Narbonne  and  Bayeux,  and,  Avhere  the 
Rue  de  I'Ecole  de  Medecine  begins,  the  Church  of 
St. -Come  and  St.-Damien,  then  belonging  to  St. -Ger- 
main des  Pres.  Following  this  street  we  come,  on 
our  left,  to  the  establishment  of  the  Franciscans, 
called  Cordeliers,  from  the  cord  worn  about  the  waist. 
When  they  first  came  to  Paris  they  only  occupied 
this  property  as  the  guests  of  the  Abbey  of  St. -Ger- 
main des  Pres,  but  they  later  acquired  it  for  them- 
selves. Saint  Louis  gave  them  a  part  of  the  ransom 
of  Enguerrand  de  Coucy*  to  build  a  church  with,  and 
they  soon  established  chairs  of  theology.  Alexander 
de  Halles,  Bonaventura,  and  Duns  Scot  all  figured  at 
one  time  or  another  among  the  corps  of  teachers,  and 
in    its  vaulted  hall,    six  hundred    years  later,  Dan- 

*  See  page  144. 


172  PARIS. 

ton  led  in  oratory  the  most  Revolutionary  quarter  of 
Paris. 

Again  following-  the  line  of  Philip-Augustus'  wall 
we  come  to  the  Rue  Dauphine,  near  the  end  of  which, 
on  the  right,  stood  the  Convent  of  the  Grands  Augus- 
tins,  dating  from  the  end  of  the  thirteenth  century  ; 
the  quarter  was  called  after  the  Church  of  St.  Andre 
des  Arts.  According  to  the  best  authorities  its  name 
(des  Arts)  was  a  corruption  of  Laas,  it  having  been 
built  in  the  Clos  de  Laas. 

We  will  now  pass  over  to  the  Place  Maubert,  a 
name  that  in  all  probability  has  come  down  from  an 
Abbot  of  St. -Germain  des  Pres  of  the  twelfth  cen- 
tury, one  Monsignor  Aubert,  as  this  Avas  a  part  of  the 
vast  possessions  of  the  abbey  at  that  time.  The 
College  de  Bernardins,  where  the  Fireman's  Barrack 
now  stands,  was  founded  in  1245,  and  endowed  by 
Alphonse  de  Poitiers,  a  brother  of  Saint  Louis ;  close 
to  it  w^as  the  college  founded  in  1302  by  Cardinal 
Lemoine,  and  the  College  des  Bons  Enfants  St.-Vic- 
tor,  dating  back  to  the  first  half  of  the  thirteenth 
century.  From  thence  the  line  of  the  wall  of  Philip- 
Augustus  takes  us  right  down  to  the  Porte  St. -Ber- 
nard, built  at  the  same  time,  and  beyond  it  on  the 
bank,  the  Tournelle,  erected  as  a  defense  to  the  ap- 
proach to  the  south  arm  of  the  river,  and  connecting 
at  will,  by  means  of  a  chain,  with  the  tower  of 
Loriaux  on  I'Isle  St.  Louis. 

If  we  follow  the  river  bank  for  a  short  distance  we 


PARIS  OF  THE  EARLY  MIDDLE  AGES.        173 

will  reach,  Avhere  the  Halle  aux  Vins  now  stands,  the 
Abbey  of  St.  Victor,  founded  in  the  early  part  of  the 
twelfth  century  by  William  of  Cliampeaux,  who 
sought  the  retirement  of  the  cloister,  it  is  said,  to 
soothe  his  spirit  after  his  defeat  at  the  hands  of  his 
former  student  Abelard.  The  new  establishment, 
favored  by  Kings  and  Popes,  became  wealthy  and 
important,  and  numbered  many  brilliant  scholars 
among  its  masters.  It  was  the  favorite  burial-place 
of  the  Bishops  of  Paris  for  several  centuries.  Among 
the  many  legacies  of  books  made  to  its  library,  a 
Bible  given  by  Blanche  of  Castile  is  now  in  the 
Bibliotheque  Rationale.  We  Avill  pass  by  the  Col- 
leges d' Arras  and  des  Ecossais,  and  pause  before 
the  College  de  Navarre  (the  Polytechnic  now),  founded 
by  the  wife  of  Philippe  le  Bel  at  the  time  of  the 
victory  of  Mons  en  Puelle  in  1304.  The  queen 
bequeathed  her  "  house  of  Navarre,  near  the  Porte 
St. -Germain,"  to  be  an  establishment  for  "  six  stu- 
dents of  the  kingdom  of  France."  The  executors 
of  her  Avill  sold  the  house,  hoAvever,  and  built  the 
college  on  the  northern  slope  of  the  Montague  Ste. 
Genevieve. 

We  will  close  the  enumeration  of  the  colleges  of 
this  period  with  the  Carmelite  Convent.  Saint  Louis 
brought  six  Carmelites  back  Avith  him  from  Palestine 
and  established  them  on  the  Quai  des  Celestins,  but 
Philip  IV.  and  Philip  V.  gave  them  property  on  the 
Montague  Ste.  Genevieve,  where  in  the  middle  of  the 


174  PARIS. 

fourteenth  centiiiy  we  find  them  building  a  church 
and  convent. 

Before  leaving  the  left  bank  of  the  Seine  let  us 
pass  outside  the  new  boundary-walls  of  Philip-Augus- 
tus and  see  what  changes  have  taken  place  in  the 
district  lying  to  the  west.  We  can  go  through  either 
the  Porte  de  Buci — sold  by  the  monks  of  St.  Ger- 
main to  the  Counsellor  of  that  name  in  1250 — or 
the  gate  they  built  themselves  a  little  further  south, 
about  where  the  streets  of  I'Ecole  de  Medccine  and 
Larrey  meet  to-day.  The  great  church  of  the  Abbey 
St.  Germain  had  been  built  in  the  beginning  of  the 
eleventh  century.  "  The  Abbot,"  writes  the  historian, 
with  unconscious  irony,  "  finding  that  his  church 
needed  repairs  after  having  been  burned  three  times 
by  the  Normans,  decided  to  rebuild  it."  As  has  been 
mentioned,  however,  in  the  last  chapter,  the  great 
scpiare  tower  of  Childebert's  Church  was  preserved, 
at  any  rate  as  far  up  as  the  bell,  and  is  still  standing 
on  the  east  side.  It  is  the  principal  relic  of  Bar- 
barian Paris,  and  to  be  watched  with  awe  standing 
above  that  highly  modern  Boidevard.  During  the 
thirteenth  century  the  Abbey  Avas  greatly  enlarged. 
Pierre  de  Montereau,  the  architect  of  the  Ste.  Chapelle, 
had  constructed  a  Refectory  and  an  exquisite  Lady 
Chapel,  and  in  1273  a  great  dormitory  had  been 
built.  These  all  stood  north-west  of  the  church, 
Avithin  a  boundary-wall  ei'ccted  in  1239,  which  Philip- 
Augustus  made  the  monks  replace  by  a  real  wall  of  de- 


PAKIS  OF  THE  EAELY  MIDDLE  AGES.    175 

feiise  at  the  time  that  he  was  enclosing  the  rest  of  the 
city.  The  Abbey  was  proprietor  of  an  immense  dis- 
trict, reaching  ahnost  as  far  as  the  present  Champ  de 
Mars,  and  planted  out  in  orchards  and  vineyards.  It 
was  first  called  the  Pre  St.  Germain  and  later  Pre 
aux  Clercs.  On  the  east  it  was  bounded  by  a  canal, 
la  None  or  la  petite  Seine,  on  the  other  side  of  which 
lay  the  |7e^/^  Pre  aux  Clercs,  also  the  property  of  the 
Abbey,  between  what  now  are  the  Rues  Bonaparte, 
Jacob,  and  Seine.  It  was  here  that  the  clercs  or  Uni- 
versity students  disported  themselves,  their  brawls, 
debauches,  and  acts  of  insubordination  stirring  up 
dissensions  between  the  Abbey  and  the  University 
for  two  whole  centuries.  The  extreme  privileges 
granted  by  Philip- Augustus  to  the  University  caused 
them  to  resent  the  smallest  interference  from  without, 
no  matter  how  well  deserved.  For  instance,  in  1278 
the  students  pidled  down  a  building  that  had  been 
erected  on  the  Pre  aux  Clercs  by  the  Abbot.  The  toc- 
sin was  promptly  sounded,  and  the  whole  popidation  of 
the  bourg  St.  Germain  poured  out  and  overpowered 
the  students,  some  of  whom  were  killed  and  others  im- 
prisoned in  the  convent.  The  University  thereupon 
brought  complaint  to  the  Cardinal-Legate,  Simon  de 
Brie,  and  threatened  to  suspend  all  lectures  and  courses 
if  the  most  complete  reparation  possible  were  not  made 
within  fifteen  days.  When  the  matter  was  submitted 
to  the  King's  privy  council  it  was  decided  against  the 
monks,  and  the  Provost  of  the  Abbey  expelled. 


176  PARIS. 

The  great  CJos  dc  Laas,  stretching  from  the  Petit- 
Pont  to  the  None  (the  canal  following  the  line  of  the 
present  Rue  Bonaparte),  Avas  also  at  one  time  the 
property  of  the  monks  of  St.  Germain,  and  Childe- 
bert  had  granted  them  the  iishing  rights  of  the  Seine 
all  the  way  to  Sevres.  Some  time  in  the  thirteenth 
century,  probably  about  the  middle,  one  Seigneur  de 
Nesle  bought  a  part  of  the  Clos  de  Laas,  Avest  of 
where  the  Grands  Augustins  was  built  a  little  later, 
and  erected  a  great  stronghold  on  the  river-bank, 
reaching  as  far  as  the  city  a\  all.  From  the  hotel  the 
ground  sloped  gently  down  to  the  water's  edge,  and 
during  the  summer  months  we  are  told,  the  people 
of  the  neighborhood  came  to  enjoy  the  fresh  air 
and  shade  of  the  numerous  willows  planted  there. 
During  the  winter,  however,  the  water  often  rose  so 
high  that  it  reached  the  walls,  and  in  time  began  to 
undermine  them.  When  Philippe  le  Bel  bought  the 
Hotel  of  Nesle,  he  had  the  willows  cut  down  and  re- 
placed by  solid  blocks  of  stone,  with  a  view  to  con- 
fining the  river  to  its  bed,  and  from  this  action  we 
have  the  first  quay  of  Paris,  the  "  Quai  de  Nesle." 

On  the  death  of  Philippe  le  Long,  his  widow, 
Jeanne  of  Burgundy,  took  up  her  residence  in  the 
Hotel  de  Nesle,  and  to  her  are  attributed  the  crimes 
that  have  made  the  Tour  de  Nesle  so  notorious.  On 
her  death,  in  1328,  she  left  a  part  of  the  property  to 
be  sold  for  the  purpose  of  establishing  a  college  for 
poor  students,  natives  of  Burgundy. 


PAEIS  OF  THE  EARLY  MIDDLE  AGES.        177 

We  will  now  take  a  boat  at  Philippe  le  Bel's  new 
quay,  pull  up  the  left  branch  of  the  Seine  under  the 
Petit-Pont,  between  the  He  de  la  Cite  and  the  He 
aux  Vaches,  and  then  a  little  further  to  the  right, 
until  we  reach  the  Port  of  St.  Paul,  where  we  will 
land  on  the  north  bank  again,  close  to  where  the 
Place  de  la  Bastille  is  now.  This  port  reached  from 
the  little  Rue  des  Barres,  on  the  modern  map,  to  the 
Quai  des  Celestins,  At  either  end  stood  a  low,  strong, 
round  tower,  les  Tours  de  Barres  and  Billy  respec- 
tively, from  which  chains  could  be  stretched  across 
to  others  placed  the  one  on  the  He  aux  Vaches  and 
the  other  on  the  south  bank  of  the  Seine,  thus  shut- 
ting off  both  arms  of  the  river. 

It  is  probable  that  even  in  Gallo-Roman  times  all 
the  heavier  boats  coming  from  the  upper  Seine  and 
the  Marne  were  moored  here  rather  than  in  the 
smaller  and  less  secure  port  of  the  Greve ;  it  was 
subdivided  into  a  number  of  little  ports,  whose  names 
indicate  the  nature  of  the  cargoes  landed  there.  We 
have,  for  instance,  the  fresh-water-fish-port,  the  hay- 
port,  the  grain-port,  and  so  on.  The  ground  lying  a 
little  away  from  the  river,  low,  damp,  and  unheahhy, 
was  occupied  almost  exclusively  by  buildings  con- 
nected in  some  way  with  the  traffic  of  the  port. 
Even  u])  to  the  middle  of  the  thirteenth  century  the 
only  religious  establishment  Avas  the  Church  of  St. 
Paul,  built  by  Dagobert. 

This  Church  of  St.   Paul  was  originally  merely  a 
12 


178  PAEIS. 

mortuary  chapel  standing  in  the  cemetery  founded 
by  Saint  Eloy  for  a  burying-place  for  the  sisters  of 
liis  great  Convent  of  St.  Martial  in  the  city.  It  was 
not  customary  yet  to  bury  in  churches,  and  the  Koman 
rule  of  placing  tombs  without  the  city,  one  of  the 
many  things  to  which  the  modern  time  has  returned, 
still  prevailed. 

About  the  end  of  the  eleventh  century  St.  Paul 
aux  Champs  was  converted  into  a  parish  church  for 
the  convenience  of  the  people  living  in  the  neighbor- 
hood, there  being  no  other  church  near.  It  stood 
about  in  the  middle  of  the  present  Rue  St.  Paul. 

When  Bishop  Galon  was  forced  to  disperse  the 
sisters  of  St.  Aure  (St.  Martial),  in  1107,  on  account 
of  some  irregidarities  in  the  discipline  of  the  con- 
vent, the  cemetery  ceased  to  be  the  burying-place  of 
the  order. 

There  is  one  association  in  this  neighborhood  which 
seems  to  link  the  time  of  St.   Louis  with  our  own. 

The  first  Carmelite  establishment  in  Paris,  as  has 
already  been  noted,  was  founded  by  the  King  on  his 
return  from  Palestine,  when  six  of  the  order  accom- 
panied him.  They  settled  first  in  a  small  building 
belonging  to  the  Hotel  Barbeaux,  and  went  by  the 
name  of  Ics  Sarrcs,  from  their  long  cloaks  with  alter- 
nate divisions  of  black  and  white.  As  the  order  in- 
creased they  were  obliged  to  move  into  larger  quar- 
ters, but  to  this  day  the  street  where  they  first  lived 
continues   to   be   called  the   Rue   des   Barres.      The 


PAEIS  OF  THE  EARLY  MIDDLE  AGES.        179 

name  of  this  Avliole  suburb  was  St.  Paul ;  later  it  be- 
came the  Quartier  de  la  Bastille.  Bounding  it  on 
the  north-west  lay  the  Quartier  du  Marais,  in  which, 
like  a  little  walled  city,  stood  the  great  establishment 
of  the  Templars.  Just  when  this  was  founded  is  not 
certainly  known  ;  it  may  have  started  as  a  simple 
chapel,  where  priests  of  the  order  officiated.  A  docu- 
ment of  1211  speaks  of  the  Commandery  of  the  Tem- 
ple, and  before  1222  Hubert,  treasurer  of  the  order, 
had  built  the  great  tower — "  one  of  the  most  powerful 
buildings  in  the  kingdom,"  writes  Felibien  in  his  His- 
tory of  Paris. 

As  early  as  1147,  just  before  the  Second  Crusade, 
the  Templars  are  known  to  have  assembled  at  Paris, 
under  the  auspices  of  Pope  Eugenius  III.  and  Louis 
VII.,  and  it  was  probably  this  King  that  granted 
them  the  great  tract  of  land  lying  beyond  the  north 
bank  of  the  river.  Here  they  established  a  Ville 
Neuve  {Villa  Nova  Templii  it  was  called  in  the  end 
of  the  thirteenth  century),  they  drained  the  great 
marshy  district  lying  beyond  their  Avails,  and  jjlanted 
it  out  in  orchards  and  vineyards,  converting  a  dreary 
waste  into  a  beautiful  and  fertile  suburb.  In  1354, 
when  Henry  HI.  passed  through  France  on  his  way 
back  to  England  from  Guyenne,  he  stayed  at  the 
Temple,  but  with  so  imposing  a  suite  that  even  that 
great  enclosure  could  not  accommodate  them  all. 
During  his  eight  days'  visit  Paris  was  the  scene  of  a 
constant  succession  of  feasts  and  revels,  one  of  the 


180  PARIS. 

most  magniticent  being  given  in  the  great  hall  of  the 
Temple,  when  the  English  King  acted  as  host. 

The  order  had,  however,  reached  the  height  of  its 
prosperity,  and  the  decline  was  not  long  in  beginning. 
In  the  reign  of  Philip  III.  there  Avas  some  friction 
with  the  Crown  regarding  rights  of  jurisdiction  within 
the  city  walls,  and  the  question  was  decided  against 
the  Knights.  Philippe  le  Bel  seemed  at  first  inclined 
to  favor  them,  and  confirmed  the  enormous  privileges 
Philip -Augustus  and  Louis  VII.  had  conferred  upon 
them,  but  for  some  cause,  possibly  their  refusal  to 
contribute  to  the  heavy  tax  levied  against  the  city  in 
1296,  he  became  their  bitter  enemy.  In  1305  Philip 
fled  from  the  Louvre,  Avhere  he  was  threatened  by  a 
serious  uprising  of  the  people,  who  could  not  forgive 
his  currency  reforms,  and  took  refuge  at  the  Temple. 
He  probably  during  this  visit  saw  for  himself  the 
enormous  treasure  collected  in  the  Great  Tower  and 
formulated  plans  to  get  possession  of  it ;  at  all  events, 
it  was  only  two  years  later  that  the  same  Grand  Master 
who  had  received  him  so  hospitably  and  protected  him 
from  the  violence  of  the  populace,  was  seized  by  the 
King's  command,  together  with  one  hundred  and  forty 
knights  of  the  order,  Avho  had  come  to  take  part  in 
an  assembly  at  the  Temple.  Grave  charges  of  heresy 
and  disorderly  living  had  already  been  brought  against 
them,  which  were  confirmed  by  admissions  made 
Avhile  under  torture,  but  Clement  V.  reserved  the 
right  to  give  sentence  and  they  were   sent   back  to 


PARIS  OF  THE  EARLY  MIDDLE  AGES.         181 

prison.  Other  trials  Avere  held  in  which  the  order 
throughout  the  whole  of  Europe  became  involved, 
and  finally  the  Pope,  yielding  to  the  pressure  brought 
by  Philip,  abolished  it  in  1313.  All  of  their  property 
was  forfeited  to  the  Knights  of  Saint  John,  or  Knights 
of  Rhodes,  as  they  were  now  called  (the  King  had 
already,  however,  seized  the  treasure  in  the  Great 
Tower),  and  the  Grand  Master  Jacques  Molay  and 
the  Commanders  of  Aquitaine  and  Normandy  were 
burned  in  1314  on  the  little  island  which  was  later 
joined  to  the  west  end  of  the  Island  of  la  Cite,  just 
where  the  Place  Dauphine  is  now. 

Two  other  buildings  near  by,  belonging  to  this 
period,  were,  first,  the  Hotel  of  the  King  of  Sicily, 
the  property  later  of  the  Count  of  Anjou,  Saint  Louis' 
brother ;  it  was  rebuilt  in  1621,  and  its  only  import- 
ant history  belongs  to  the  time  of  the  Revolution, 
when  it  became  the  prison  of  La  Force  ;  and  sec- 
ondly, the  Hotel  Barbette,  erected  by  the  Prevot  of 
Paris  under  Philippe  le  Bel,  Etienne  Barbette,  it  be- 
came the  property  successively  of  Isabella  of  Bavaria 
and  Diana  of  Poitiers,  and  was  finally  demolished  to 
make  room  for  the  Rue  Barbette,  whose  name  still 
preserves  its  memory.  Under  the  Romans  the  road 
leading  to  the  provinces  of  the  north  was  lined  with 
tombs  ;  the  Christians  continued  to  bury  their  dead 
there,  and  a  large  cemetery  was  early  established, 
having  a  mortuary  chapel  dedicated,  as  was  the 
general  custom,  to  Saint  Michael.      This  chapel  gave 


182  PAEIS. 

place,  under  Louis  le  Gros,  to  a  larger  church,  which 
got  the  name  of  The  Holy  Innocents,  why  or  when  is 
not  precisely  known,  unless  it  was  due  to  Louis  VII., 
who  is  said  to  have  had  an  especial  feeling  of  venera- 
tion for  the  Holy  Innocents,  his  favorite  oath  accord- 
ing to  one  historian  being,  ^^er  sanctos  dc  Bctlileliem ; 
at  all  events  that  was  the  name  both  of  the  church 
and  the  great  cemetery,  which,  intended  at  first  as 
the  burial-place  of  only  the  people  of  the  parish  of 
St.  Germain  I'Auxerrois,  was  used  later  by  all  the 
neighboring  parishes  and  a  number  of  hospitals  and 
religious  establishments  as  well,  so  that  it  became  the 
largest  cemetery  of  Paris. 

The  close  vicinity  of  the  Halles,  with  their  mar- 
kets and  fairs,  frequented  by  crowds  of  rough  and 
lawless  people,  made  it  necessary  to  surround  the 
cemetery  with  walls.  Philip-Augustus  carried  out 
this  work,  at  the  same  time  enclosing  a  part  of  the 
district  called  "Clianqjeaiix,^^  where  animals  were  sold 
at  that  time.  The  only  other  addition  of  which  we 
have  any  record  was  made  by  the  Bishop  of  Paris, 
Pierre  de  Nemours,  who  presented  a  piece  of  ground 
adjoining  the  Halles  to  the  Chapter  of  St.-Germain 
I'Auxerrois,  to  be  added  to  the  cemetery. 

At  an  early  day  charnel-hoiases  were  established 
in  Paris  where  in  times  of  unusual  mortality  large 
numbers  of  the  dead  could  be  buried  at  once,  and  in 
the  fourteenth  century  we  find  mention  of  a  sort  of 
covered  gallery  or  pent-house   built  along  the  walls 


PAEIS  OF  THE  EARLY  MIDDLE  AGES.         183 

of  the  aristocratic  burial-ground  of  Saint-Paul,  and 
the  common  one  of  The  Innocents  for  the  reception 
of  bones  unearthed  in  digging  new  graves. 

After  the  last  of  the  Norman  invasions  the  regions 
lying  west  of  the  Halles  remained  for  many  years 
sparsely  populated.  What  dwellings  there  Avere  were 
scattered  along  the  roads  leading  from  Paris  to  ChaU- 
lot  and  Clicliy,  the  first  the  present  Rue  St.-Honore, 
the  other  the  Rue  des  Bons-Enfants.  Towards  1204 
the  wall  of  Philip- Augustus,  that  had  been  building 
for  thirteen  years,  had  just  been  completed  near 
the  Louvre  ;  a  certain  noble  and  his  wife  founded 
a  church  and  cloister  dedicated  to  Saint-Honore, 
Bishop  of  Amiens,  near  the  gate  of  the  new  Avail, 
close  to  Avhere  the  Oratoire  now  stands.  From  the 
amount  of  ground  presented  by  the  founders  it  got 
the  name  of  The  Thirteen  Acres,  even  long  after  it 
had  acquired  much  more.  The  people  of  the  neigh- 
borhood Avere  poor,  many  of  them  pork  merchants, 
whose  market-place  close  by-Avas  called  St.-Honore- 
aux-Porcians ;  but  the  bakers  from  the  Louvre 
Bakery  {fiirnus  de  Lure)  were  the  most  important 
members  of  the  parish,  and  had  a  chapel  of  their 
own  in  the  church — it  was  from  this  that  St.-Honore 
became  the  patron  of  the  bakers  of  Paris,  and  then 
of  all  France,  as  he  is  to  this  day. 

The  Bons  Enfants,  who  gave  their  name  to  the 
road  to  Clicliy,  were  a  certain  body  of  poor  clerks  or 
students  avIkj  lived  in   Paris   on  public  charity,  and 


184  PAEIS. 

had  been  celebrated  ever  since  the  days  of  Kmg 
Robert  for  their  deeds  of  mercy.  In  1208  a  "  col- 
lege "  was  erected  for  them  near  St.-Honore,  with 
which  it  was  associated ;  it  was  provided  with  a 
chapel  of  its  own,  dedicated  first  to  the  Virgin  and 
then  to  Saint  Clair,  which  occupied  the  space  on  the 
Rue  Bons  Enfants  between  the  covered  cloister  of 
St.-Honore  and  the  Rue  Montesquieu  until  1792, 
when  it  was  torn  down.  Saint  Louis  was  a  liberal 
friend  to  the  College  of  the  Bons-Enfants,  only  re- 
quiring in  return  for  his  generosity  that  the  students 
should  aid  the  choir  in  the  services  held  in  the  City 
Palace  and  the  Louvre.  They  had  indeed  acquired  a 
reputation  as  choristers  si/ni2)honiaclpucri,  and  it  is  said 
thatoneof  Louis'great  pleasures  was  to  hear  them  chant 
the  mass  or  vesper  service  on  some  great  feast  day. 

We  will  now  close  with  a  short  survey  of  the  city 
as  we  leave  it  at  the  end  of  this  period.  It  has  been, 
especially  the  last  Inmdred  and  fifty  years  of  it,  a 
period  of  extraordinary,  growth  and  change  5  like  our 
own  time,  it  has  ruthlessly  destroyed  the  past,  it  has 
altered  its  institutions,  changed  its  streets  and  pri- 
vate houses,  pulled  down  and  rebuilt  its  monuments 
and  churches. 

We  left  Paris  at  the  end  of  the  last  chapter  the 
city  of  a  local  King  claiming,  but  not  exercising, 
sovereignty  over  the  great  vassals ;  we  find  it  at  the 
opening  of  the  next  the  great  capital  of  a  centralized 
kingdom. 


PAKIS  OF  THE  EARLY  MIDDLE  AGES.        185 

We  left  it  at  that  period  a  small  borough,  the 
Island,  a  northern  suburb,  and  scattered  groups  of 
houses  round  the  churches  of  the  southern  bank ;  we 
leave  it  now  a  densely-packed  circumference  of  nearly 
four  miles,  with  suburbs  streaming  out  along  the  main 
roads  as  they  leave  the  city. 

It  entered  this  transformation  with  but  isolated 
forts  :  the  chatelets,  the  palace,  like  a  prison  of  thick 
walls,  the  stockade  on  the  north-east.  Now  it  is  sur- 
rounded by  a  great  Avail  on  every  side,  flanked  with 
more  than  a  hundred  toAvers.  The  eastern  stockade 
has  been  replaced  by  the  strong,  square  tOAvers  of 
the  LouA-re. 

But,  aboA'e  all,  the  soul  and  the  body  of  the  place 
haA'e  changed.  The  soul,  because  the  UniA^ersity  has 
arisen.  The  body,  because  the  Gothic  has  appeared 
and  is  transforming  northern  Europe. 

In  the  eleventh  century  Ave  might  ha\^e  noted  rou- 
tine teaching,  ancient  unquestioned  things  droned  out 
in  the  monastic  and  parish  schools  5  but  in  the  tAvelfth 
the  Crusaders  haA'C  marched  out  and  haA'e  returned, 
the  East  has  inflamed  the  imagination  of  the  West, 
the  cloisters  of  Notre  Dame  have  heard  Abelard  and 
Saint  Bernard,  and  now  the  great  exodus  to  the  hill 
of  8te.  GenevicA'C  has  taken  place,  and  the  colleges 
of  the  University  are  planted  thick  on  the  sides  of 
the  hill. 

Did  one  look  doAvn  from  the  towers  of  the  new 
great  Cathedral  upon  Paris  before  the  wars,  it  Avould 


186  PAKIS. 

have  been  to  see  in  the  place  of  her  old  squalor  and 
barbarism  something  fantastic  ;  the  mediaeval  city  to 
which  our  modern  dreams  perpetually  return.  Every- 
Avhere  high  gables,  everywhere  spires,  towers,  in- 
numerable  carvings,  her  great  wall  shining  here  and 
there  at  the  ends  of  streets,  high  above  the  houses 
her  equal  towers.  Before  you  Avould  be  that  little 
permanent  miracle,  the  Ste.  Chapelle,  to  its  right 
the  great  square  of  the  palace,  Avith  its  round-pointed 
towers  and  its  delicate  inner  court.  To  the  left  the 
slope  of  the  hill  w^ould  stand  thick  with  the  new 
churches,  with  the  Cordeliers,  the  Carmelites,  the 
Jacobins  of  Ste.  Genevieve,  and  the  colleges. 

To  the  right,  on  the  north,  an  expanse  of  steep 
gables,  broken  only  by  the  square  of  the  Greve ;  but 
the  dull  roofing  would  here  and  there  be  contrasted 
with  gleaming  lead  on  the  high-pitched  naves  of  the 
churches,  standing,  as  they  always  did  in  a  mediaeval 
city,  head  and  shoulders  above  the  town. 

To  the  west,  beyond  the  wall  of  St.  Honore,  you 
would  see,  higher  than  anything  in  the  town,  the 
square,  gloomy  dungeon  of  the  Louvre,  wdth  its  great 
central  tower  and  its  four-story  corner  turrets,  from 
the  south-eastern  one  of  which  ran  the  chain  that 
stretched  from  the  Tour  de  Nesle  on  the  southern 
bank. 

Finally,  like  messengers  leaving  the  new  city, 
along  the  St.  Honore,  the  St.  Denis,  the  St.  Marcel, 
the   Orleans  roads,  and  especially  thick  beside  the 


PARIS  OF  THE  EARLY  MIDDLE  AGES.        187 

great  oblong  of  St.  Germain  des  Pres,  ran  the  suburbs, 
which  were  later  to  build  up  the  outer  city. 

And  of  all  this  the  characteristic  would  have  been 
the  height,  the  narrowness,  the  points.  The  win- 
dows of  the  palace,  of  the  churches,  and  of  many  of 
the  rich  men's  houses  stood  upon  the  thin  exquisite 
pillars,  and  were  shaped  in  the  mystical-pointed  arch 
of  which  the  St.  Chapelle  is  the  great  example ;  the 
ridges  of  the  roofs  ran  in  the  same  assemblage. 
Points  innumerable,  ends  always  tapering  upward. 
It  was  as  though  the  city  had  adopted  an  attitude  of 
prayer,  and  as  though  the  buildings  looked  above  them 
and  joined  their  hands  together. 

This  spirit  of  the  Grothic  took  the  north,  and  Paris 
with  it,  in  one  great  movement.  Almost  a  single  gen- 
eration of  men  saw  the  change  complete.  A  man  born 
in  the  time  of  Saint  Bernard's  old  age  would  have  lived 
his  youth  in  a  city  of  the  Romanesque  ;  he  would,  had 
he  lived  to  seventy  or  eighty  years  of  age,  have  died 
in  a  city  of  the  pointed  arch,  of  the  high  steep  roof, 
and  even  of  the  spire.  Men  worshipped  in  the  Ste. 
Chapelle  or  in  Notre  Dame,  still  using  the  words  and 
the  habit  of  that  rough  youth  of  Europe,  during  which 
the  first  Crusaders  stood  for  the  blessing  under  the 
round  arches  and  beside  the  thick  pillars  of  Childebert's 
church  ;  but,  whether  as  a  cause  or  an  effect,  the 
Gothic  Avent  with  a  profound  mental  change,  and  for 
the  three  centuries  of  its  rule  this  architecture  is  the 
environment  of  a  profound  mysticism,  of  a  kind  of 


188  PAEIS. 

dreaming  attitude  of  the  mind — subtle  disquisition 
upon  the  metaphysic — gorgeous  pageantry  and  highly- 
colored  clothing,  keen  and  silent  forces,  such  as  we 
find  in  the  front  of  Rheims  and  Amiens — poetry  of 
short  themes  and  of  amazing  verbal  aptitude — a  de- 
sire everywhere  for  the  unknown  in  the  things  of  the 
soul,  for  the  marvellous  in  the  stories  of  far  countries, 
of  delicate  tAvilight  and  of  silence,  and  in  everything 
an  appetite  for  the  hidden  and  for  the  strange. 

This  is  the  spirit  that  holds  Europe  for  three  hun- 
dred years,  and  that  makes,  as  it  slowly  changes  from 
the  manhood  of  Saint  Louis  and  Joinville  to  the  mad- 
ness of  Louis  XL  and  Villon,  what  we  call  Paris  of 
the  middle  ages.  The  Renaissance  was  to  wither  it 
with  a  flood  of  warmth  and  light,  and  its  last  ruins 
fell  down  at  the  noise  of  Rabelais  laughing. 


PARIS  OF  THE  LATEK  MIDDLE  AGES.         189 


CHAPTER    V. 

PARIS    OF    THE    LATER    MIDDLE    AGES. 

The  period  covered  by  this  chapter  will  lead  us 
through  not  quite  two  hundred  years.  From  the  be- 
ginning of  the  English  wars  to  the  death  of  Louis 
XII.  Of  what  nature  are  those  two  centuries  in  the 
history  of  Paris  ? 

They  are  essentially  the  close  of  the  middle  ages. 
The  great  divisions  Avhose  origins  are  to  be  found  in 
the  awakening  of  the  eleventh  century,  and  whose 
dramatic  and  almost  tragic  close  is  marked  by  the 
opening  of  the  new  world,  by  the  discovery  of  print- 
ing, by  the  Renaissance,  and  by  the  Reformation. 

From  such  shocks  no  system  and  no  society  could 
have  escaped  unchanged.  But,  by  an  accident  which 
has  not  on  the  whole  clone  hurt  to  our  civilization, 
the  blows  happened  to  fall  on  a  body  already  near  to 
death.  The  result  Avas  that  the  modern  world  Avas 
developed  Avith  extreme  rapidity,  and  that  the  date 
we  have  chosen  for  the  close  of  this  chapter  marks, 
not  so  much  a  boundary  as  a  gulf,  on  the  far  side  of 
Avhich  lie  the  times  to  Avhich  Ave  belong,  and  Avhose 
divisions,  violent  discussions,  bcAAdlderment  and  hopes 
are  our  own. 


190  PARIS. 

You  will  discover  that  during  these  two  hundred 
years  Paris  suffers  and  changes  in  a  manner  very 
typical  of  the  time.  Her  adventures  are,  as  it  were, 
the  epitome  of  what  Europe  is  passing  through.  The 
theatrical  apparatus  which  feudalism  puts  on  in  its 
dotage,  the  useless  plumes,  the  fantastic  heraldry, 
the  cumbersome  trappings  of  the  charger,  the  fool- 
ish embroidered  bridle — all  these  paraphernalia  of  the 
fourteenth  and  fifteenth  century  chivalry  are  the  life 
of  her  palaces  and  the  gaiety  of  her  streets. 

The  tournament  has  taken  the  place  of  private 
war,  and  the  whole  appearance  of  the  soldiery — in 
such  times  an  excellent  test  of  what  society  in  gen- 
eral was  feeling — is  transformed.  During  these 
many  earlier  centuries,  in  which  the  knight  had  been 
simply  bent  upon  his  trade  of  fighting  and  upon  its 
object,  armor  had  been  simple  and  useful.  The  out- 
ward appearance  of  the  knight  reflected  the  sim- 
plicity of  heroic  times.  This  spirit  died  with  Saint 
Louis  on  the  Tunisian  sand.  It  had  produced  the 
Song  of  Roland  and  a  hundred  other  majestic  epics ; 
it  gave  us  the  Gothic,  the  Parliaments,  the  Univer- 
sities. It  is  there  that  an  historian  may  place  with 
so  much  security  his  admiration  of  the  middle  ages. 

But  now  this  child-like  nature  which  looked  out- 
ward and  was  brave  is  replaced  by  the  clearest  evi- 
dences of  decay.  It  is  getting  dark,  the  footlights 
are  lit,  and  in  a  kind  of  false  glare  the  sham  heroes 
of  Froissart  come  on  to  the  stage.     They  fight  one 


PARIS  OF  THE  LATER  MIDDLE  AGES.         191 

liardly  knows  for  what,  unless  it  is  to  have  the  op- 
portunity of  making  line  phrases  and  of  achieving 
the  picturesque.  Later,  the  beginning  of  diplomacy 
enters  to  make  things  worse,  and  a  thousand  dynastic 
conspiracies  fill  up  the  time,  till  at  last  a  double  figure, 
mad  enough  for  any  play,  and  yet  the  full  represen- 
tative of  national  feeling,  appears  in  Louis  XL 

If  the  spirit  which  we  shoidd  find  in  the  upper 
classes  of  Paris  was  of  this  nature,  and  if  such  figures 
are  to  lend  color  to  her  movement,  we  may  naturally 
expect  some  similar  phase  in  the  buildings  whose 
aspect  and  whose  changes  are  the  chief  theme  of  this 
book.  This  expectation  is  not  disappointed,  but  the 
background  which  architecture  furnished  to  this  fan- 
tastic time  is  nobler  than  the  figures  which  it  frames. 
The  Gothic  stoops,  of  course,  to  a  certain  littleness, 
but  it  increases  in  charm  and  gains  in  beauty  what  it 
loses  in  majesty.  The  simple  spire,  the  strong,  suffi- 
cient pillars,  the  just  proportion  of  the  thirteenth  cen- 
tury building,  have  something  about  them  as  certain 
as  the  creed  and  as  full  of  satisfaction  as  a  completed 
love.  These  qualities  the  later  architects  fail  to  at- 
tain, but  they  were  desirous  of  putting  grace  and 
charm  and  subtlety  into  their  work,  and  they  suc- 
ceeded. The  pillars  are  too  thin  for  what  they  sup- 
port, but  this  very  insufficiency  gives  them  the  char- 
acteristic of  fantasy.  They  spring  up  to  immoderate 
heights,  but  it  is  in  such  deep  roof-trees  that  one 
can  best  feel  the  spirit  that   haunted  their  builders. 


192  PARIS. 

The  carving  is  more  delicate,  the  allegory  deeper 
than  what  the  earlier  period  could  design,  and  they 
grow  so  perfect  in  the  art  of  expression  that  there  is 
produced  in  this  false  time  a  pair  of  statues  which 
cannot,  I  think,  be  matched  in  the  whole  world.  I 
mean  the  Madonna  over  the  southern  portal  at  Rheims, 
and  the  statue  of  Our  Lady  of  Paris,  which  stands 
in  Notre  Dame.  With  the  first  a  history  of  Paris  is 
not  concerned,  and  this  is  just  as  well,  for  it  would  be 
impossible  to  describe  it  in  moderate  terms.  As  to 
the  second,  it  is  one  of  the  principal  glories  of  the 
city.  It  stands  at  the  corner  where  the  southern 
transept  meets  the  nave,  and,  as  you  come  up  the 
southern  aisle,  you  see  it  all  surrounded  with  lighted 
candles.  It  is  upon  coming  closer  and  looking  at  the 
face  that  you  understand  the  cause  of  this  decoration. 
As  the  period  closes  architecture  goes  further  and 
further  along  this  road.  The  carvings  jostle  one 
another.  Every  church  front  is  a  kind  of  foliage  of 
detail.  The  windows  especially  display  this  luxuri- 
ance. They  attempt  every  manner  of  re-entrant 
curve,  the  lines  pass  one  into  the  other,  and  there 
finally  appears  that  effect  of  a  fire  burning  which 
has  given  the  last  style  of  mediajval  architecture 
its  French  name.  This  feverish  close  of  the  great 
three  hundred  years  is  best  described  in  the 
phrase  of  Michelet,  "  The  Gothic  caught  fire,  leapt 
up  in  the  tongues  of  the  Flamboyant,  and  disap- 
peared." 


PARIS  OF  THE  LATER  MIDDLE  AGES.         193 

But  while  we  have  described  this  de-^^elopment  of 
fourteenth  and  fifteenth  century  art  as  being  less 
vain  than  the  men  for  whom  it  was  built,  yet  it  must 
not  be  forgotten  that  the  kind  of  building  upon  which 
all  this  lavish  imagination  was  poured  out  indicates 
very  well  the  social  change.  Such  masses  of  detail 
are  luxuries.  Expense  is  the  first  character  of  these 
gems,  and  the  flamboyant,  exquisite  as  it  is,  could  not 
have  existed  but  for  the  growing  evil  of  social  con- 
ditions. Property  was  concentrating  in  great  masses, 
and  though  (luckily)  the  means  of  production,  espe- 
cially the  land,  do  not  get  into  fewer  hands,  yet  the 
rich  become  richer,  the  poor  poorer,  during  that 
period.  The  classes  divide.  The  writing  of  romances 
and  of  histories,  the  admirable  illuminations  Avhich 
we  cherish  so  carefully,  the  growing  power  of  art — 
all  these  things  are  at  the  disposition  of  what  has  now 
definitely  become  a  luxurious  upper  class.  The  old 
idea  of  a  man  in  high  position  having  a  definite  duty 
as  the  price  of  his  dignity,  the  hierarchical  concep- 
tion of  the  thirteenth  century,  still  exists  in  the  letter, 
]jut  the  spirit  is  fast  disappearing.  The  fatal  line  be- 
tween the  upper  and  the  lower  clergy  has  been  drawn. 
These  churches  that  delight  us  were  the  playthings 
of  rich  dignitaries,  and  the  closing  energy  of  Gothic 
architecture  is  expended  upon  the  chapels  or  upon 
the  palaces  of  men  who  are  merely  rich.  In  the 
religious  and  civil  tumult  of  the  sixteenth  century  the 
people  took  their  revenge.     But  that  revenge  did 

13 


194  PARIS. 

not  settle  matters,  and  we  suffer  to-day  from  evils 
which  the  fifteenth  century  })repared. 

It  is  then  with  such  a  society,  growing  in  social 
differences,  in  luxury,  in  misery,  in  the  power  of  ex- 
pression, that  the  Paris  we  are  about  to  describe  is 
peopled.  What  was  the  history  of  the  city  as  this 
development,  or  rather  decay,  took  place  ? 

When  we  left  the  monarchy  in  the  last  chapter 
the  work  of  consolidation  and  unity  had  been  finally 
accomplished.  The  Capetian  house  had  worked 
steadily  towards  one  end  for  the  better  part  of  four 
hundred  years,  or  rather  it  had  during  all  that  time 
been  at  the  helm  directing  the  natural  course  of  the 
nation.  By  a  striking  coincidence  the  succession 
during  all  that  period  had  been  perfect.  The  task 
of  guiding  the  national  development  is  regularly 
handed  down  from  father  to  son.  The  prince  is 
crowned  in  the  king's  lifetime,  and  all  this  long  line 
of  kings  is  a  continuous  chain  whose  links  are  periods 
of  increasing  power.  We  have  seen  how  the  king's 
government  succeeded  in  enforcing  itself  over  all 
France.  Philippe  the  Conqueror  fought  its  last  bat- 
tles. Saint  Louis  inherits  its  perfection.  Philippe 
le  Bel  pushes  it  to  the  point  of  despotism. 

NoAv,  in  the  first  generation  of  the  fourteenth  cen- 
tury, when  the  work  is  thoroughly  accomplished,  the 
direct  line  ends,  and,  as  though  a  kind  of  spell  were 
connected  with  the  Capetian  succession,  upon  the 
failure  of  a  direct  heir,  this  great  and  successful  effort 


PARIS  OF  THE  LATER  MIDDLE  AGES.         195 

of  the  dynasty  goes  through  a  hundred  years  of  trial 
The  hundred  years'  war  comes  directly  upon  the 
heels  of  the  success,  and  we  may  compare  it  to  the 
furnace  in  which  a  Avork  of  art  is  either  perfected  or 
destroyed,  but  which  is  necessary  for  it  to  reach  its 
final  purpose. 

Charles  le  Bel  was  the  last  of  the  direct  line.  It 
was  necessary  to  cast  about  for  a  successor,  and  three 
claimants  present  themselves:  Philip  of  Valois,  Charles 
of  Navarre,  and  EdAvard  III,  of  England.  It  would 
not  come  Avithin  the  scope  of  this  book  to  trace  at 
any  length  the  various  values  of  these  claims,  or  hoAV 
lightly  the  English  King  may  have  treated  his  legal 
rights.  Suffice  it  to  say  that  it  is  made  the  pretext 
for  the  beginning  of  those  Avars  which  nearly  ended 
in  the  coalescence  of  France  and  England.  The 
motive  of  the  English  attack  Avill  be  clear  Avhen  Ave 
consider  the  spirit  of  the  time.  There  Avas  a  memory, 
loose  in  the  matter  of  legal  right,  but  strong  in  tradi- 
tion and  sentiment,  of  the  Angevin  house.  The 
kings  of  England  had  not  been  technically  sovereigns 
of  their  French  fiefs,  but  virtually  these  formed  part 
of  a  united  empire.  These  times  Avere  not  far  re- 
moved. Henry  III.,  the  son  of  the  man  who  had 
lost  the  French  possessions  and  Avho  had  himself 
fought  to  recover  them,  had  been  dead  for  only 
seventy  years  or  so.  French  AA^as  still  the  language 
of  the  court  and  upper  classes,  though  English  Avas 
rapidly  superseding  it.      And  above   all  there  was  a 


196  PARIS. 

desire  to  "  Faire  Chevalerie."  That  spirit  of  which 
we  spoke  above,  the  theatrical  knighthood  of  the 
fourteenth  century,  was  strong  on  both  sides  of  the 
channeL  It  is  this  last  feature  which  lends  so  inde- 
terminate a  character  to  the  first  part  of  the  hundred 
years'  war.  Rapid  raids  going  deep  into  the  heart 
of  France,  followed  by  equally  rapid  retreats  heavy 
with  booty ;  a  lack  of  permanent  garrisons,  and, 
finally,  as  everybody  knows,  the  clearing  out  of  the 
foreigner  from  French  soil.  This  earlier  period  of 
the  wars,  covering,  roughly  speaking,  the  latter  half 
of  the  fourteenth  century,  might  have  passed  with 
little  eff'ect  upon  either  country,  save  only  for  this. 
France  Avas  greatly  impoverished  and  the  nobility 
were  hard  hit  in  the  great  defeats. 

Nothing  formative  appears.  Paris,  vaguely  con- 
scious of  its  mission,  passes  indeed  through  the  strange 
episode  of  Etienne  Marcel's  rule.  It  is  the  first  note 
of  that  civic  attitude  which  will  later  make  Paris  lead 
France ;  but  it  was  out  of  due  season  and  it  failed, 
because  even  those  who  took  part  in  it  doubted  the 
moral  right  of  their  action.  StiU  it  was  a  memory  to 
look  back  to  and  to  strengthen  further  developments 
in  the  idea  of  the  city.  One  may  say  that  the  Hotel 
de  Ville  arose  in  these  famous  riots,  and  that  the 
House  of  the  Pillars  Avas  the  direct  ancestor  of  the 
place  where  they  plotted  in  the  night  of  the  ninth 
Thermidor  and  of  the  walls  which  the  Commune  de- 
stroyed. 


PAKIS  OF  THE  LATER  MIDDLE  AGES.         197 

With  the  next  century  a  very  different  prospect 
opens  on  the  war.  England  is  ruled  by  English- 
speaking  nobles,  the  Hou^e  of  Lancaster,  and  they 
must  prove  their  right  to  usurpation  by  adding  to 
the  national  power,  while  the  attempt  was  peculiarly 
suited  to  a  family  whose  genius  was  for  diplomacy 
and  intrigue,  and  who  had  in  their  blood  the  instinct 
which  tells  a  conqueror  the  moment  at  which  to  strike. 
The  old  King  spent  his  reign  in  affirming  a  very  un- 
stable throne,  surrounded  by  nobles  Avho  were  his 
equals.  The  task  of  the  French  invasion  was  left  to 
Henry  V. 

Of  all  the  circumstances  favoring  his  attempt,  none 
was  more  powerful  than  the  condition  of  Paris  and  of 
the  French  court.  These  we  will  describe  ;  for,  in 
order  to  follow  the  strange  story  of  how  the  French 
crown  fell  into  foreign  hands,  and  of  how,  almost  by 
a  miracle,  it  was  recaptured,  it  is  necessary  to  appre- 
ciate what  the  Burgundian  party  meant  and  why 
P%i*is  adhered  to  it. 

Ever  since  the  time  of  Saint  Louis,  that  is,  ever 
since  the  unity  of  France  under  the  crown  had  been 
achieved,  the  fatal  custom  had  obtained  of  granting 
"  appanage."  The  "  appanage "  Avas  a  great  fief, 
lapsed  from  its  old  Feudal  Lord,  fallen  to  the  King, 
and  regranted  by  him  to  a  brother  or  a  son.  This 
policy  was  imagined  to  be  wise.  It  was  thought  that 
the  immediate  relation  of  the  royal  family  would  help 
it  upon  all  occasions,  and  that  this  relegation  of  power 


198  PARIS. 

was  far  more  practical  than  any  system  of  governors 
— which,  in  the  conditions  of  the  middle  ages,  would 
have  meant  so  many  potential  rohols.  But  as  a  fact 
the  "Tippanao'e  "  turned  out  more  dangerous  than  the 
feudal  family.  It  had  all  the  vices  of  an  independent 
fief,  and  added  to  these  its  ruler  Avould  remember  the 
pride  of  the  Royal  blood  but  not  his  duty  to  the 
family  of  which  he  was  a  member.  In  a  few  genera- 
tions his  house  woidd  grow  into  a  distinct  and  almost 
foreign  menace  to  the  throne,  and  so  to  the  unity  of 
the  nation. 

When  John  the  Loyal  was  taken  prisoner  at 
Poictiers  his  little  son  had  defended  him  in  the  battle, 
and  in  memory  of  this  his  father  gave  him  the  prov- 
ince of  Burgundy  in  fee.  In  less  than  ffty  years 
Burgundy  was  almost  like  another  kingdom — not  its 
people,  but  its  policy — and  the  Duke  of  Burgundy  is 
the  overshadowing  protector  of  the  throne. 

Now,  when  Henry  V.  was  about  to  invade  France, 
the  King,  Charles  VI.,  was  mad — he  had  periods  ^ff 
sanity,  but  his  personal  hold  on  the  government  Avas 
gone.  From  the  Tower  of  the  Louvre  not  the  old 
familiar,  if  sometimes  terrible,  face  of  the  King  awed 
and  controlled  Paris,  but  rather  there  sounded  the 
voices  of  two  factions,  each  claiming  to  rule  in  the 
Mad  King's  name,  and  between  these  Paris  had  to 
choose.  They  were  the  family  of  Armagnacs — south- 
erners— and  the  Duke  orBurgimdyVpeople.  '  Into 
the  treachery,  the  murders   and   the   bitter  personal 


PARIS  OF  THE  LATER  MIDDLE  AGES.         199 

enmity  between  these  two  we  cannot  enter  here,  but 
in  brief  Paris,  upon  whose  decision  at  this  stage  of 
French  history  the  whole  nation  ah-eadv  depended, 
declared  for  Burgundy.  The  southerner  has  always 
meant  for  Paris  the  danger  of  national  disunion,  and 
again  the  Duke  of  Burgundy  was  at  least  a  Capet. 
The  choice  was  not  ill-considered,  and  yet  events 
proved  it  unwise.  The  Duke  of  Burgundy  felt 
against  the  Armagnac  a  violent  and  personal  hatred 
in  which  dynasty  and  nationality  had  nothing  to  do, 
and  since  the  southern  faction  continued  to  hold  the 
Dauphin,  he  declared  for  the  English  invader.  Paris 
followed  him  even  in  this  extreme  step,  and  Henry 
V.  was  welcomed  as  he  entered  the  citv. 

Lest  this  grave  misjudgment  should  appear  inex- 
plicable, it  must  be  understood  that  the  city  saw  in 
the  advent  of  the  Lancastrian  the  only  opportunity 
for  national  unity  and  for  the  end  of  a  disastrous 
struggle.  It  was  only  as  a  means  of  affirming  the 
dynasty  through  the  female  line  and  being  rid  of  the 
Armagnac  that  Henry  was  admitted.  He  was  to 
marry  the  daughter  of  the  Mad  King,  and  his  son  was 
to  inherit  the  crowns  of  England  and  France.  These 
terms  Paris  actually  applauded,  and  after  his  father's 
death  the  poor  little  child  of  less  than  a  year  old 
doomed  with  tainted  blood,  and  heir  to  all  the  misery 
(if  the  wars  of  the  Koses,  was  crowned  in  Notre 
Dame. 

All  the  world  knows  how  this  false  step  on  the  j)art 


200  PAEIS. 

of  the  capital  was  redeemed  by  the  Peasantry.  The 
social  differentiation  which  had  cursed  France  with  a 
clique  of  professional  lawyers  and  diplomats  had  not 
destroyed  the  people  nor  lessened  their  hold  on  the 
soil.  And  while  the  upper  class  was  achieving  the 
ruin  of  the  nation,  Joan  of  Arc  comes  out  of  the  new 
class  of  peasants  Avho  own  the  land,  the  direct  ancestors 
of  the  proprietors  of  to-day,  and  saves  it.  Her  story 
does  not  directly  affect  the  city,  save  that  she  fell 
wounded  in  attacking  its  gate  of  St.  Honore  (close  to 
where  her  statue  now  stands,  in  the  Place  des  Pyra- 
mides),  and  that  her  success,  though  long  after  her 
death,  changed  the  views  of  Paris  as  it  did  those  of 
the  Dukes.  Richemont  re-enters  the  city,  and  the 
English  retreat  fighting  from  the  Bastille. 

Louis  XI.  at  last  inherits  the  peace  that  succeeds 
these  victories.  The  figure  of  Louis  XL  though  not 
the  best  is  yet  the  most  striking  figure  at  the  close  of 
this  period ;  not  as  a  fighter  (for  the  time  of  that  has 
passed)  nor  merely  as  a  patriot  (for  that  has  not  yet 
come),  but  as  an  upholder  of  the  dynasty,  as  a  true 
heir  of  the  Capetians,  this  King,  who  was  so  deeply 
touched  with  his  grandfather's  madness,  reconsoli- 
dates  the  nation  under  the  royal  power.  In  the  brief 
period  between  his  death  and  the  Italian  wars  the 
Renaissance  is  already  upon  us,  and  the  chapter  of 
mediaeval  France  and  Paris  is  closed. 

We  leave  the  city  and  the  nation  safely  pulled  out 
of  that  furnace  of  the  wars,  but  at  this  expense  that 


PAEIS  OF  THE  LATER  MIDDLE  AGES.         201 

they  will  never  live  strongly  again,  save  with  a 
highly  centralized  government,  and  Paris  in  the  three 
centuries  between  that  time  and  the  Revolution  will 
be  found  steadily  supporting  her  own  hegemony  and 
the  necessity  of  a  strong  rule  in  one  hand. 

As  Ave  turn  to  the  detailed  history  of  the  buildings 
of  the  city  during  these  two  hundred  years,  let  us 
begin  Avitli  the  quarter  which  is  the  centre  of  the 
municipality,  and  which  (with  the  Palais)  is  the  prin- 
cipal interest  of  the  time,  I  mean  that  which  was  later 
called  the  Hotel  de  Ville. 

In  1328  Clemence  of  Hungary,  widow  of  Louis  X., 
died  in  the  ]\Iaison  aux  Piliers,  on  the  Place  de  la 
Greve,  and  left  it  by  will  to  her  nephew,  Guy,  Dauphin 
of  Vienne.  His  brother  and  heir,  Humbert,  being 
childless,  ceded  all  his  possessions  to  the  King,  Philip 
VI.,  in  behalf  of  his  grandson  Charles,  for  a  sum  of 
money,  and  on  condition  that  the  Province  of  Dau- 
phine  should  be  kept  distinct  from  the  CroAvn  of 
France.  From  henceforth  the  eldest  son  of  the  royal 
family  is  called  the  Dauphin,  and  the  House  of  Pil- 
lars becomes  for  a  time  the  ''  Dauphin's  House." 

It  was  enlarged — probably  about  the  middle  of  the 
fourteenth  century — not  towards  the  Place  do  la 
Greve  but  in  the  rear,  where  stood  the  Church  of 
St.  Jean,  for  a  document  of  1357  mentions  the  little 
street  that  had  bounded  this  church  on  the  east  as 
being  then  the  eastern  liniit  of  the  Maison  aux 
Dauphins.      This  piece  of  evidence  is  of  the  greatest 


202  PAKIS. 

importance,  as  the  existence  of  a  Hotel  de  Ville  in 
Paris  dates  from  that  moment. 

Etienne  Marcel,  the  famous  Prevot  des  Marchands, 
during  King  John's  captivity,  who  had  done  so  much 
already  to  advance  the  power  of  the  Bourgeois,  liad 
determined  to  establish  some  sort  of  municipal  centre 
or  communal  building,  modelled  on  those  of  several 
Flemish  towns,  and  the  Maison  aux  Piliers,  situated 
in  the  heart  of  the  city  and  close  to  the  principal 
port,  was  precisely  suited  to  his  purpose.  The  Dau- 
phin tried  hard  to  prevent  his  house  from  becoming 
the  headquarters  of  an  already  threatening  faction, 
finally  giving  it  to  Jean  d'Auxerre,  in  the  hope  that 
as  the  property  of  a  private  citizen  it  might  escape ; 
but  Marcel  overreached  him,  and  the  document  above 
referred  to  is  nothing  less  than  a  record  of  the  pur- 
chase, with  public  money,  of  the  Dauphin's  House. 
Within  a  year,  when  the  Prevot  had  the  artillery  of 
the  Louvre  moved  there,  and  transformed  it  into  a 
sort  of  revolutionary  headquarters,  it  is  called  "la 
Meson  de  la  Ville,"  and  with  that  phrase  begins  the 
long  story  of  the  Hotel  de  Ville. 

It  was  here  that  the  people  assembled  after  the 
murder  of  the  Marshals  of  Champagne  and  Nor- 
mandy, in  February,  1358,  and  when  jMarcel  ha- 
rangued them  from  the  window  they,  from  the  Place 
de  la  Greve,  replied  by  shouting  :  "  We  acknowledge 
the  deed,  and  Avill  abide  by  it !"  And  it  was  also 
here  that  in  August  of  the  same  year,  when  the  Dau- 


PAKIS  OF  THE  LATER  MIDDLE  AGES.         203 

phin  had  reasserted  his  power,  Toussac  and  Macon,  two 
of  the  Prevot's  warmest  supporters,  were  beheaded. 

When  the  revolution  Avas  suppressed  the  Dauphin 
allowed  the  Prevot  des  Marchands  to  remain  at  the 
Place  de  la  Greve,  but  transferred  some  of  his  poAvers 
to  his  own  Prevot  de  Paris,  Hugues  Aubriot,  whose 
headquarters  were  at  the  Chatelet. 

The  Hotel  de  Ville  seems,  however,  from  its  incep- 
tion destined  to  be  the  core  and  centre  of  revolution- 
ary enterprises  ;  for  when,  during  the  minority  of 
Charles  VL,  the  people  of  Paris  rebelled  against  the 
authority  of  the  King's  uncles,  it  was  there  they  as- 
sembled and  armed  themselves  with  those  leaden 
mallets  from  which  the  rebels  got  the  name  of 
maillotins.  This  time  the  punishment  was  severe. 
In  the  following  year,  1383,  when  the  King  returned 
flushed  with  his  victory  over  the  Flemish  Communes, 
one  of  his  first  acts  was  to  install  the  Provost  of  the 
Crown  in  the  place  of  the  Prevot  des  Marchands,  and 
for  thirty-two  years  the  Hotel  de  Ville  appears  in  the 
public  documents  as  the  "  House  of  the  Provost  of 
Paris,"  or  worse  still,  the  "  King's  Hotel  at  the 
Greve."  In  1415,  notwithstanding  the  general  state 
of  disorder  and  bad  government,  the  municipal  body 
of  Paris  succeeded  in  effecting  the  reorganization  of 
tlie  Prevote  des  Marchands.  Paris  once  more  gains 
possession  of  her  Hotel  de  Ville,  not  to  lose  it  again 
till  nearly  four  hundred  years  had  brought  it  to 
Thermidor. 


204  PAEIS. 

During  the  English  occupation  the  Place  de  la 
Greve,  deserted  and  neglected,  presents  a  most  mel- 
ancholy picture.  Sauval  quotes  a  document  dated 
1430,  whose  significance  he  himself  does  not  take  in. 
It  refers  to  the  sole  embellishment  of  the  building 
during  this  period,  when  a  certain  room  is  decorated 
by  Mahiet  Biterne  with  the  ship — the  city's  emblem 
— surrounded  by  lilies  interlaced  with  roses,  un- 
doubtedly the  red  roses  of  Lancaster,  the  mark  set 
by  the  Duke  of  Bedford  on  the  Avails  of  the  Hotel  de 
Ville. 

After  the  entry  of  Charles  VII.  the  English  taken 
at  Pontoise  were  sent  by  hundreds,  according  to  the 
Journal  (Vun  Bourgeois,  to  the  Greve,  tied  hand  and 
foot  and  drowned,  ^'  in  the  presence  of  all  the  peo- 
ple." 

Although  Charles  VII.  absented  himself  from  the 
capital  as  much  as  possible,  and  maintained  the  seat 
of  his  government  elsewhere,  it  was  in  his  name  that 
a  most  happy  transformation  of  the  administrative 
body  of  Paris  was  accomplished,  and  the  national 
unity  re-established.  In  the  month  of  July,  1450, 
the  Prevot  des  Marchands  and  the  four  sheriffs  ask 
the  King's  permission  to  appoint  a  commission  for  the 
purpose  of  examining  all  the  ancient  registers  and 
documents  of  the  Hotel  de  Ville,  with  a  view  to 
thoroughly  reorganizing  their  body.  The  result  was 
that  by  the  close  of  this  reign  the  municipality  was 
established  upon  so  firm  a  basis  that  in  the  next  it 


PAEIS  OF  THE  LATER  MIDDLE  AGES.         205 

Avas  able  to  render  substantial  service  and  support  to 
the  Crown. 

It  was  in  fact  upon  the  bourgeois  that  Louis  XI. 
chiefly  relied.  From  almost  the  moment  of  his  coro- 
nation he  set  himself  to  gain  their  confidence  and 
good-will.  We  find  him  taking  part  in  the  election 
of  the  Provost,  becoming  a  member  of  the  "  Brother- 
hood of  the  Bourgeois,"  even  taking  supper  in  the 
Hotel  de  Ville  Avith  the  Provost  and  sheriffs,  and  in 
1471,  Avith  his  own  hand,  lighting  the  great  bonfire 
which  (a  custom  older  than  Christianity)  burned 
every  year  on  Saint  John's  eve  in  the  Place  de  la 
Greve.  Less  than  tAvo  years  later  Jean  le  Hardi, 
AA'ho  had  conspired  Avith  the  Duke  of  Burgundy  to 
poison  the  King,  Avas  executed  on  the  same  spot,  and 
his  head  stuck  on  the  point  of  a  lance  in  front  of  the 
Hotel  de  ViUe.  Here,  too,  took  place  the  execution 
of  the  treacherous  Constable  of  St.  Pol,  Avho,  however, 
just  before  "  little  John,"  the  executioner,  cut  off  his 
head,  publicly  repented  and  asked  the  King's  pardon. 
Louis,  in  order  to  keep  his  people  in  mind  of  the 
risks  they  ran  in  resisting  him,  and  also  of  hoAv  in 
this  case  the  justice  of  the  sentence  had  been  recog- 
nized by  even  the  victim  himself,  put  up  a  column 
tAvelve  feet  high,  on  the  spot  where  M.  de  Saint  Pol 
had  been  executed,  on  Avhich  were  engraved  his  epi- 
taph and  his  last  words. 

Meanwhile  the   Hotel  de  Ville  was  getting   very 
much  out  of  i-epair;  during  the  last  two  or  three  reigns 


206  PARIS. 

but  little  had  been  done  for  it,  and  now,  moreover, 
its  functions  were  increasing  so  rapidly  that  it  liad 
become  much  too  small.  Fortunately  money  Avas 
not  wanting  under  Louis  XT.  for  public  works. 
When  royal  visitors  came  to  the  capital  the  King 
paid  all  the  costs  of  their  entertainment ;  the  citi- 
zens were  neither  required  to  serve  in  the  army 
themselves  nor  to  send  substitutes,  and  an  act  of 
1465  provides  against  soldiers  being  quartered  on 
them  ;  thus  the  city  was  able  to  spend  its  income 
upon  itself.  In  1470  work  was  begun  on  the  Hotel 
de  Ville,  and  the  Maison  aux  Piliers,  which  was 
already  more  than  three  hundred  years  old,  was  thor- 
oughly repaired  and  enlarged. 

At  the  beginning  of  the  reign  of  Louis  XIL  a  gal- 
lery was  built  around  the  court,  and  the  crumbling 
wood-work  renewed,  not  however  at  the  reigning 
King's  expense,  Avho  merely  took  advantage  of  the 
improvements  to  give  the  Archduke  of  Austria  a 
more  imposing  reception  when  he  visited  Paris,  and 
who,  moreover,  required  the  city  to  pay  all  the  costs. 
Charles  VIII.  made  Paris  contribute  pretty  heavily 
towards  his  Italian  campaign,  but  Louis  went  much 
further.  The  seventeen  years  of  his  reign  present  a 
long  series  of  demands,  now  on  one  pretext  and  now 
on  another ;  but  Avith  it  all  he  continued  to  keep  on 
good  terms  with  the  bourgeois.  At  the  time  of  his 
third  marriage  the  young  Queen,  Mary  of  England, 
was  Avaited  upon  by  the   Prevot  des  Marchands  and 


PAKIS  OF  THE  LATER  MIDDLE  AGES.         207 

four  sheriffs,  and  laresented  with  the  gift  of  the  city, 
"  silver-gilt  plate  to  the  value  of  about  six  thousand 
pounds."  They  ventured,  moreover — a  thing  never 
done  before — to  ask  her  to  do  them  the  honor  to 
dine  at  the  Hotel  de  Ville.  Accordingly,  on  Sun- 
day, the  26th  of  November,  1514,  the  first  really 
royal  repast  Avas  served  in  the  old  Maison  aux  Piliers, 
the  Queen  being  seated  at  table  with  Louise  of 
Savoy,  mother  of  Prince  Francis  of  Angouleme,  who 
but  a  few  weeks  later  was  to  become  King  of 
France. 

The  residence  of  the  Provost  of  Paris  had  fared  no 
better  than  the  Hotel  de  Ville  as  far  as  its  preserva- 
tion went,  for  Felibien  says  that  in  1460  the  Chatelet 
had  become  so  out  of  repair  that  the  pleas  had  to  be 
heard  in  the  Louvre.  The  Avork  of  reconstruction 
seems  to  have  progressed  but  slowly,  for  in  1506  it 
was  still  far  from  completed,  though  Corrozet  notes 
that  in  that  year  the  "  seat  and  jurisdiction  of  the 
Provost  of  Paris  "  was  re-established  at  the  Chatelet. 
One  description  of  the  building  states  that  the  vari- 
ous offices,  quarters  for  the  guard,  and  so  forth,  were 
on  the  east,  while  the  prisons  were  on  the  lower  side, 
overlooking  the  Rue  St.  Denis  ;  the  cells  under  the 
prisons  and  the  cellars  along  the  river-bank  were 
used  as  store-rooms,  either  for  arms  or  provisions. 

The  prisons  just  mentioned  were  more  than  twenty 
in  number,  each  having  its  especial  name,  as  the 
Griesche,  where  only  women  were  confined  ;  the  Fin- 


208  PAEIS. 

d^aise,  described  as  the  worst  of  all  the  Chatelet  dun- 
geons, "  where  the  air  was  so  fetid  that  a  candle 
Avould  not  burn  ;  "  the  Gloricftc,  and  so  on.  As  a 
rule  persons  Avere  only  detained  here  while  awaiting 
trial ;  after  that  they  Avere  liberated,  executed  or  com- 
mitted to  other  prisons,  according  to  the  nature  of 
their  sentence.  Prisoners  had  to  pay  a  regular  tax 
to  the  gaoler  for  their  keep  ;  this  was  fixed  by  the 
state,  and  varied  according  to  their  station  or  means. 

Articles  taken  from  thieves  or  found  were  kept  at 
the  Chatelet  forty  days,  if  not  reclaimed  they  were 
then  sold,  and  the  price  turned  over  to  the  Crown. 

The  entrance  to  the  prisons  was,  as  it  had  been  for 
centuries  past,  by  the  arched  passage-way  from  the 
Rue  St.  Leufroi.  Persons  accused  of  crime  were 
first  conducted  to  a  room  on  the  ground-lloor,  called 
the  lower  gaol  or  morgue,  where  they  were  examined 
attentively  by  the  agent  of  the  police  ("  on  les  7nor- 
guaient^^),  so  that  they  could  be  recognized  if  they 
escaped.  A  good  deal  later  this  room  was  used  for 
the  reception  of  bodies  found  in  the  Seine.  From 
very  early  times,  however,  some  spot  was  set  aside 
for  this  purpose,  and  a  document  of  1372  refers  to 
the  fact  that  the  Sisters  Hospitallers  of  Ste.  Cathe- 
rine were  obliged  by  their  rule  to  receive  the  corpses 
of  any  persons  who  had  either  died  in  prison  or  on  the 
public  highways,  or  been  dro^A'ned  in  the  river,  and 
to  provide  tliem  with  shrouds,  and  have  them  buried 
in  the  neighboring  cemetery  of  The  Holy  Innocents. 


PARIS  OF  THE  LATER  MIDDLE  AGES.         209 

In  front  of  the  Chatelet  on  the  north  was  an  open 
square,  where  to-day  is  the  short  "  Avenue  Victoria." 
It  was  called  the  Porte-Paris  or  Apport-Paris,  and 
there  from  time  immemorial  a  market  had  been  held. 
It  was  bounded  on  the  east  by  the  facade  of  the 
Grande  BoKcJierie  or  Slaughter-House,  and  on  the 
west  by  a  continuation  of  the  Rue  St.  Denis,  which 
still  bears  the  same  name. 

From  there  the  Pont  au  Change  led  over  the  river 
to  the  Cite.  It  had  been  rebuilt  in  Avood  in  the  be- 
ginning of  the  fourteenth  century,  and  two  hundred 
years  later  had  become  so  out  of  repair  as  to  be  (ac- 
cording to  Dulaure)  useless.  Still  it  had  a  long  life 
for  a  mere  trestle  bridge,  for  it  was  again  rebuilt,  or 
possibly  only  strengthened,  in  1510,  and  so  effectu- 
ally as  to  resist  the  inundation  that  carried  away  the 
Pont  aux  Meuniers  some  ninety  years  later. 

The  Hotel  du  Chevalier  du  Guet  stood  north-west 
of  the  Chatelet,  between  the  present  Avenue  Vic- 
toria and  the  Rue  de  Rivoli ;  it  was,  as  its  name  in- 
dicates, the  headquarters  of  the  7-oyal  tvatch,  a  body 
of  militia  whose  duty  it  was  to  patrol  certain  parts 
of  the  city  at  night.  The  commander  or  chevalier 
was  appointed  by  the  Provost  of  Paris.  The  Jour- 
nal Sous  Charles  VI.  mentions  a  certain  Gaulthier 
Rallard,  Chevalier  du  Guet  in  1418,  who  when  on 
duty  always  had  four  or  five  minstrels  march  ahead 
of  him  playing  on  loud  instruments,  "  which  seemed 
to  the  people  to  be   a  very  strange  thing,  as  it  Avas 

14 


210  PARIS. 

like  telling  wrong-doers  to  get  out  of  the  way  of  his 
coming." 

Charles  VII.  bestowed  the  emblem  of  the  lately- 
suppressed  Order  of  the  Star  upon  the  Chevalier  du 
Guet  and  his  servants  ;  they  had  the  exclusive  priv- 
ilege of  Avearing  it,  and  could  also  have  access  to  the 
King  at  all  hours,  "  even  booted." 

South  of  the  Chatelet,  close  to  the  river,  stood 
the  Parloir  aux  Bourgeois,  the  meeting-place  of  the 
municipality  before  its  regular  reorganization,  and 
adjoining  it,  the  Chapel  of  St.  Lefroi,  belonging 
originally  to  the  parish  of  St.  Germain  I'Auxerrois. 
The  mention  of  this  last  church  naturally  leads  us  to 
the  Louvre,  which  was  its  iuimediate  neighbor  on  the 
west. 

The  reigns  of  Philip  le  Bel's  first  and  last  sons  had 
terminated  under  very  similar  circumstances,  but  in 
the  latter  case  the  child  born  at  the  Louvre  after  its 
father's  death  proved  to  be  a  girl,  and  there  were, 
moreover,  no  uncles  ready  to  carry  on  the  direct 
succession  from  father  to  son.  The  throne  remained 
in  the  same  branch  of  the  family,  but  a  new  dynasty 
was  established.  Immediately  on  the  death  of  Charles 
lY.  Edward  III.  of  England,  nephew  of  the  late  King, 
claimed  the  regency.  The  Peers  of  France  meeting 
to  consider  the  question,  appointed  Philip  of  Valois — 
grandson  of  Philip  le  Hardi  and  the  only  heir  to  the 
throne  through  the  male  succession — regent,  with  the 
understanding  that  in  case  the  child  should  be  a  girl 


PARIS  OF  THE  LATER  MIDDLE  AGEvS.         211 

he  was  to  succeed  to  the  crown.  On  the  1st  of  April, 
1328,  a  httle  princess  was  born,  "  whereat,"  says 
Froissart,  "  most  of  the  kingdom  was  greatly  trou- 
bled." Not  so  Philip  ;  he  was  already  in  possession 
of  the  Louvre,  which  meant  nearly  the  same  as  hold- 
ing the  crown  itself,  and  he  had,  moreover,  the  sup- 
port of  the  chief  barons  and  the  twelve  peers.  He 
was  crowned  without  opposition  at  Rheims  in  the  fol- 
lowing month. 

As  de  Montfort  knew  to  his  cost,  Philip  of  Valois 
kept  his  political  prisoners  in  the  Louvre,  but  their 
history  hardly  belongs  to  so  purely  domestic  a  chron- 
icle as  this;  other  prisoners  that  more  nearly  concern 
us  occupied  a  little  vine-shaded  building  in  one  cor- 
ner of  the  palace  garden,  the  "  lion's  house,"  as  it 
was  called,  and  there  was  housed  the  royal  menagerie 
until  the  time  of  Charles  V.,  when  the  animals  Avere 
moved  to  the  garden  of  the  Hotel  St.  Paul,  and  the 
Rue  des  Lions  got  the  name  it  has  ever  since  gone  by. 

After  King  John's  defeat  and  capture  at  Poictiers, 
the  Dauphin  returned  to  Paris,  and  establishing  him- 
self in  the  Louvre,  opened  negotiations  with  Marcel 
and  the  States  General.  The  Provost  at  first  ap- 
peared with  a  strong,  armed  following,  but  later, 
fearing  that  even  these  would  not  be  sufficient  to 
protect  him  should  the  Louvre  once  fairly  hold  him 
in  its  grasp,  he  declined  to  venture  fui'ther  than  St. 
Germain  I'Auxerrois.  We  have  already  seen  how  in 
April,  1358,  he  succeeded  in   ca})turing  the  artillery 


212  PARIS. 

stored  at  the  Louvre,  and  transferring  it  to  the  Hotel 
de  Ville ;  his  next  move  was  more  important  still. 
Having  managed  to  force  the  Dauphin  out  of  the 
Louvre,  he  took  measures  to  prevent  its  ever  again 
becoming  the  redoubtable  stronghold  of  the  Crown 
that  it  had  been  hitherto,  and  this  he  effected  by 
simply  extending  the  city  Avails  as  far  as  the  site  of  the 
present  Tuileries  Gate  in  the  Carrousel.  Thus  commu- 
nication with  the  country  outside  the  city  was  cut  off, 
and  the  terrible  prison  found  itself  in  turn  a  prisoner. 

When  the  Dauphin,  after  the  downfall  and  death 
of  Marcel,  returned  to  Paris  he  allowed  these  arrange- 
ments to  stand,  but,  since  the  Louvre  had  lost  its 
importance  as  a  fortress,  he  determined  to  transform 
it  into  a  palace,  albeit  a  fortified  one. 

The  moat  was  cleared  and  repaired,  and  the  Tour  du 
Bois,  corresponding  to  the  Tour  du  Coin,  constructed, 
as  Avell  as  the  Avail  along  the  bank  of  the  Seine  be- 
yond the  point  where  that  of  Philip-Augustus  stopped. 

It  may  be  remembered  that  the  Fortress  of  Philip- 
Augustus  had  on  its  eastern  and  northern  sides  only 
low,  battlemented  Avails.  The  first  Avork  undertaken 
after  the  moats  had  been  repaired  Avas  that  of  pull- 
ing these  Avails  doAvn  (after  extending  the  facades  of 
the  Avestern  and  southern  sides  for  a  considerable 
distance)  and  erecting  in  their  stead  tAvo  Avings  cor- 
responding in  height,  size  and  appearance  to  the 
others.  Thus  the  Louvre  has  noAv  become  a  com- 
plete rectangle,  built  up  on  all  four  sides. 


PARIS  OF  THE  LATER  MIDDLE  AGES.         213 

The  great  tower  in  the  centre  was  left  intact  with 
its  moat,  no  attempt  being  made  either  to  heighten 
or  to  ornament  it,  only  it  was  connected  Avith  the 
main  bnilding  on  the  north  hy  a  sort  of  covered  gal- 
lery supported  by  a  single  arch  of  masonry.  On  the 
left,  and  nearly  touching  it,  the  architect,  Raymond 
du  Temple,  had  placed  a  covered  stairway  built 
against  the  wing  that  overlooked  the  garden.  The 
lower  part  of  this  stair  led  to  the  first  four  floors ; 
each  landing  was  paved  with  tombstones  like  those 
in  the  galleries  of  the  cemetery  of  the  Innocents, 
and  furnished  with  a  bench,  so  that  the  King  might 
rest  when  mounting  to  the  top  stories,  as  he  had  to 
do  occasionally  when  the  high  rank  of  his  guests 
made  it  necessary  to  quarter  them  in  his  own  apart- 
ments. 

The  narrow  stair  at  the  top  led  to  the  attics,  and 
even  to  the  little  lead-covered  terrace  which  opened 
out  from  the  garrets,  "  la  terrasse  plomee,  par  oil  le 
Roy  monte  an  galetas,"  as  it  is  called  in  an  account 
of  the  head-carpenter  under  date  of  1364.  The 
walls  of  the  stairway  were  carved  and  decorated, 
niches  contained  statues  of  the  King  and  Queen  and 
other  members  of  the  royal  family,  and  a  carved 
stone  window,  ornamented  with  the  arms  of  France, 
overlooked  the  court. 

The  state  chamber  of  the  King,  of  great  size  and 
magnificently  fitted  up,  was  in  this  new  wing  on  the 
north,  while  the    apartments  of  the   Queen  were  in 


214  PAEIS. 

the  wing  overlooking  the  river,  called  "  le  grand 
pavilion."  The  small  chapel  or  oratory  of  the  King, 
as  well  as  his  library  and  "  study,"  was  also  in  the  north 
wing  which  overlooked  the  gardens.  The  Queen  had 
her  private  chapel  as  well,  while  attached  to  the  suite 
occupied  by  each  "  Child  of  France "  was  a  small 
oratory,  usually  situated  in  one  of  the  towers  and 
surmounted  by  a  little  spire. 

Immediately  on  the  birth  of  the  Dauphin  Charles 
caused  a  suite  of  apartments,  nearly  as  large  and 
richly  furnished  as  his  own  and  the  Queen's,  to  be 
set  aside  for  his  use.  In  the  tower  was  a  chapel, 
and,  what  none  of  the  others  had,  in  the  steeple  over- 
head a  clock,  the  second  to  appear  in  Paris,  that  in 
the  tower  of  the  Palais  being  the  first.  This  chapel 
was  situated  just  where  the  southern  extremity  of  the 
Salle  des  Cariatides  is  noAv. 

It  was  not  long,  however,  in  spite  of  all  the  additions 
made  by  Charles  V.,  before  the  Louvre  became  too 
small  for  the  King's  numerous  suite,  especially  when, 
as  was  more  and  more  frequently  the  case,  he  had 
royal  personages  to  entertain.  Thus  Charles  VI. 
spent  almost  his  entire  reign  at  the  Hotel  St.  Paul; 
after  this  the  Louvre  ceased  to  be  used  by  the  court, 
and  was  relegated  to  the  royal  princes.  The  Due 
de  Guienne,  for  instance,  lived  there  long  enough  to 
completely  transform  the  Grand  Salle  and  open  a 
doorway  on  to  the  court. 

So  many  princes  and  princesses  of  the  blood  claimed 


PARIS  OF  THE  LATER  MIDDLE  AGES.         215 

the  right  to  occupy  an  apartment — a  complete  suite, 
that  is — in  the  Louvre  that  the  servants  and  various 
officials  were  crowded  out ;  these  occupied  buildings 
of  all  styles  and  sizes  outside  the  moats,  and,  grouped 
under  the  general  name  of  Basses  Cours,  threw 
a  sort  of  girdle  of  noise  and  life  and  movement 
around  the  stately  fortress,  from  whose  towers  floated 
banners  bearing  aloft  the  emblem  of  the  lilies  of 
France. 

In  front  Avas  an  open  space  (converted  by  Charles 
VI.  into  a  garden)  and  stairs  leading  down  to  the 
water's  edge,  where  all  the  materials  used  in  the  neAV 
constructions  were  landed.  On  the  north,  as  we  have 
said,  Avas  the  garden,  called  the  large  garden,  to  dis- 
tinguish it  from  a  smaller  one  on  the  south. 

Charles  Y.  was  exceedingly  proud  of  his  enlarged 
an'd  embellished  Louvre,  and  especially  of  his  library, 
Avhich  occupied  three  floors  of  one  of  the  towers,  and 
which  was  valuable  enough  to  arouse  the  cupidity  of 
the  Duke  of  Bedford,  who  carried  off  all  but  about 
fifty  of  its  thousand  and  odd  volumes,  first  to  the 
Tournelles  and  then  to  England. 

-During  the  English  occupation  the  Louvre  sus- 
tained serious  injury  ;  it  was  in  fact  too  much  out  of 
repair  for  Charles  VII.,  on  his  return  to  his  capital, 
to  live  there,  even  had  he  wished  to.  Louis  XL,  not 
caring  to  undertake  the  costly  operation  of  restoring 
it  as  a  palace,  contented  himself  with  fitting  it  out  as 
a  prison,    and   from   the   reign   of  Charles   VIII.   it 


216  PARIS. 

ceased  to  figure  at  all  as  a  residence,  or  even  as  a 
royal  prison  ;  the  Duke  d'Alenf;on,  confined  there  by 
Louis  XI.,  was  in  fact  the  last  prisoner  of  the  great 
tower. 

But  as  the  Louvre  falls  into  disuse  another  fortress- 
palace  at  the  opposite  end  of  Paris  rises  into  im- 
portance— that  which  was  to  become,  by  an  accident, 
so  famous  under  the  name  of  the  Bastille. 

It  was  in  anticipation  of  an  attack  from  the  Eng- 
lish that  Etienne  Marcel  hastily  enclosed  the  new 
suburbs  beyond  the  wall  of  Philip-Augustus  on  the 
right  bank  of  the  Seine.  This  remarkable  piece  of 
work  was  accomplished  in  the  short  space  of  four 
years,  and  at  comparatively  small  expense.  The  new 
wall  was  lofty,  crenelated,  and  furnished  here  and 
there  with  watch-towers,  attached  to  the  battlements 
by  heavy  iron  clamps.  A  deep  and  wide  moat  filled 
with  water  guarded  the  approach  to  the  walls,  which 
were  further  protected  at  regular  intervals  by  mas- 
sive square  towers.  Each  gate  was  flanked  with 
round  towers,  and  acted  as  a  sort  of  ordinary  fortress; 
these  were  called  bastille  or  hastide  (Latin  hastilia). 
Two  of  these  gates,  which  were  more  strongly  forti- 
fied than  the  others,  were  named  the  Bastille  St. 
Denis  and  the  Bastille  St.  Antoine.  The  new  wall 
began  at  the  Tour  Barbeau — which  stood  on  what  is 
now  the  Quai  des  Celestins,  directly  opposite  the 
market,  and  was  a  gate  of  Philip- Augustus'  wall — 
continued  along  the  right  bank  of  the  river  as  far  as 


PAEIS  OF  THE  LATER  MIDDLE  AGES.         217 

the  Tour  do  Billy,  then  took  a  sharp  turn  to  the 
north-west,  and  describing  a  wide  semicircle,  includ- 
ing both  the  Temple  and  the  Louvre  within  its  limits, 
joined  the  old  wall  at  a  point  about  half-way  between 
the  modern  bridges  called  des  Arts  and  Carrousel. 

In  July  of  the  year  1358  the  Dauphin,  who  had 
succeeded  in  eluding  Etienne  Marcel,  was  encamped 
with  quite  a  strong  force  in  the  neighborhood  of 
Paris,  engaged  in  checking  the  advance  of  the  Eng- 
lisli,  and  also  of  the  army  headed  by  Charles  the  Bad, 
King  of  Navarre.  Marcel,  whose  popularity  had 
been  waning  for  some  time,  Avas  now  openly  accused 
of  conspiring  to  betray  Paris  into  the  hands  of  the 
King  of  Navarre.  On  the  afternoon  of  the  31st  he 
appeared  before  the  Bastille  St.  Denis  and  called 
upon  his  former  supporter,  Jean  Maillard,  to  deliver 
up  the  keys,  but  Maillard  had  been  won  over  to  the 
Dauphin's  side,  he  refused,  and,  as  Marcel  with  his 
band  of  fifty  or  sixty  followers  began  retreating 
towards  the  Bastille  St.  Antoine,  seized  a  banner 
bearing  the  arms  of  the  city,  leaped  on  horseback, 
and  rallying  the  citizens  about  him  with  the  cry  of 
Monfjoie  Saint  Denis,  gave  chase.  The  Prevot  knew 
that  if  he  could  once  get  possession  of  the  St.  An- 
toine gate  he  was  safe,  as  it  was  there  that  he  pro- 
posed admitting  Charles  of  Navarre  and  his  troops, 
but  the  soldiers  on  guard  refused  to  open  the  gates, 
and  Maillard  coming  up  shortly,  the  whole  band  were 
cut  to  pieces.      Three  days  later  the  Dauphin  entered 


218  PARIS. 

Paris.  As  he  passed  in  front  of  the  Church  of  Ste. 
Catherine  du  Val  des  Ecoliers  he  saw  three  bodies, 
stripped  and  mutilated,  lying  exposed  on  the  paving ; 
they  were  Marcel  and  his  two  companions,  Giffart 
and  Jean  de  I'Lsle.  These,  together  with  the  bodies 
of  various  other  persons  executed  for  having  sup- 
ported Marcel,  Avere  thrown  into  the  Seine,  at  the 
Port  of  St.  Paul. 

When  the  Dauphin  succeeded  his  father  in  1364, 
under  the  title  of  Charles  V.,  he  brought  the  experi- 
ences of  a  long  and  troubled  regency  to  aid  him  in 
the  task  of  governing  Paris.  One  of  his  first  acts 
shows  that  the  lesson  of  Marcel's  rule  had  not  been 
thrown  away  on  him.  In  order  to  oppose  some  sort 
of  check  to  the  powerful  and  sometimes  seditious  in- 
fluence of  the  Prevot  des  Marcliands,  the  representa- 
tive of  the  people,  he  appointed  as  Prevot  de  Paris 
the  representative  of  the  Crown,  Hugues  Aubriot,  a 
man  of  marked  ability,  intelligent  and  active,  and  on 
whose  loyalty  he  could  rely  implicitly. 

Aubriot  at  once  set  about  completing  and  adding 
to  the  fortifications  of  Marcel,  and  as  the  new  quarter 
containing  the  Hotel  St.  Paul  now  seemed  to  be  not 
only  very  difficult  to  defend,  but  especially  exposed 
in  case  of  a  siege,  he  advised  the  King  to  convert 
the  Bastille  of  St.  Antoine  into  a  regular  fortress, 
which  could  likewise  be  used  as  a  state  prison.  The 
first  stone  was  laid  in  the  month  of  April,  1370,  and 
by  1374  the  building  was  finished.     At  first  it  con- 


PARIS  OF  THE  LATER  MIDDLE  AGES.        219 

sisted  only  of  two  great  towers,  each  seventy-three 
feet  in  height,  which  flanked  the  old  gate  of  the  Bas- 
tille St.  Antoine,  left  intact  as  well  as  the  draw- 
bridge. A  little  later  two  other  towers  like  the  first 
were  built  opposite  them,  overlooking  the  Quartier 
St.  Antoine,  also  provided  with  a  gate  and  a  moat. 
But  Aubriot  was  not  satisfied.  The  entrance  to  the 
city  traversing  the  middle  of  the  fortress  by  means 
of  this  double  gateway  seemed  to  ofi'er  an  element  of 
danger ;  he  accordingly  built  four  other  towers,  and 
connected  the  whole  with  walls  of  solid  masonry,  of 
the  same  height.  The  Porte  St.  Antoine  was  left  on 
the  right,  and  served  to  defend  the  fortress. 

All  documents  relating  to  the  defences  erected  by 
Aubriot  have  been  either  lost  or  suppressed,  but  it  is 
safe  to  affirm  that  the  Bastille  with  its  eight  towers 
complete  was  standing  in  1380. 

Charles  VI.  regained  possession  of  his  capital 
in  1382,  and  from  his  reign  the  Bastille  is  used 
almost  exclusively  as  a  state  prison,  with  a  governor 
appointed  by  the  King.  During  the  early  years  of 
the  fifteenth  century  it  was  the  object  of  endless 
skirmishes  between  the  two  factions  of  the  Armag- 
nacs  and  the  Burgundians,  each  rightly  consider- 
ing it  the  key  to  Paris.  It  remained,  however,  in 
tlie  hands  of  the  King.  On  the  night  of  the  29th 
of  May,  1418,  when  the  massacre  of  the  Armagnacs, 
incited  by  the  Duke  of  Burgundy,  had  begun,  it 
sheltered  for  a  moment  the  escape  of  the   Dauphin, 


220  PAKIS. 

for  the  Provost  of  Paris,  Tanneguy  du  Chatel,  rush- 
ing into  the  neighboring  Pahiee  of  the  Hotel  St.  Paul, 
where  the  young  Dauphin  lay  asleep,  seized  him, 
half-dressed,  and  carried  him  off  to  the  Bastille  in  his 
arms. 

During  the  English  occupation  the  Duke  of  Exeter 
was  placed  in  command  of  the  Bastille,  Avhich,  how- 
ever, seems  not  to  have  played  any  part  in  the  mili- 
tary operations  of  the  English.  In  1464,  once  more 
garrisoned  by  Frenchmen,  it  resumed  its  functions 
of  state  prison  and  defense  to  Paris. 

It  Avas  in  September  of  that  year  that  Louis 
XL,  lying  in  the  Hotel  des  Tournelles  (near  where 
the  street  of  that  name  now  stands),  was  all  but  lost 
through  his  own  soldiers  giving  up  the  Bastille  to  the 
Duke  of  Burgundy's  troops.  The  plot  was  discovered 
by  the  Provost  of  the  Merchants — that  is  the  head 
of  the  municipality — and  from  that  moment  Louis 
places  his  dependence  on  his  Parisian  Militia  of  a 
hundred  thousand  men. 

But  as  a  fortress  the  days  of  the  Bastille  were 
numbered.  The  Faubourg  St.  Antoine  increasing 
very  rapidly,  the  time  came  when  the  great  pile 
found  itself  hemmed  in  on  all  sides  by  a  densely 
populated  district.  As  a  defense  for  this  district  it 
was  useless,  but  its  artillery  could  and  did  command 
it,  and  so  there  grew  up  that  feeling  of  hatred  and 
fear,  which  the  Bastille  inspired  in  the  people  of 
Paris  for  more  than  three  hundred  years.     Although 


PARIS  OF  THE  LATER  MIDDLE  AGES.        221 

its  guns  were  only  used  to  announce  the  peaceable 
entries  of  kings  and  queens,  of  bishops  and  ambas- 
sadors, the  common  people  and  the  bourgeois  per- 
sisted in  regarding  them  as  a  menace,  and  the  build- 
ing itself  as  the  symbol  of  royal  oppression  and 
tyranny,  directed  against  themselves. 

Charles  V.  had  removed  his  residence  to  the  neigh- 
borhood of  the  Bastille.  Here  he  bought  a  large 
house  from  the  Count  d'Etampes,  which  the  new 
Prevot  des  Marchands,  Marcel's  successor,  and  the 
sheriffs  had  undertaken  to  pay  for  with  money  fur- 
nished by  the  city.  To  this  the  Dauphin  added  a 
number  of  other  buildings,  with  their  grounds,  courts, 
and  dependencies,  so  that  when  the  walls  around  his 
new  palace  were  finished  they  enclosed  six  or  seven 
great  hotels,  twelve  galleries,  eight  gardens,  six  yards 
and  a  number  of  courts,  the  largest  of  which,  the 
Coiir  des  JeuXj  was  used  for  military  exercises. 

This  great  establishment  reached  from  the  Port 
of  St.  Paul  to  the  Rue  St.  Antoine,  Avhich  it  followed 
to  the  east  as  far  as  the  Bastille,  but  did  not  trespass 
upon  the  grounds  of  Celestins  lying  south.  On  the 
modern  map  it  would  be  bounded  by  the  Quai  des 
Celestins,  the  Rue  St.  Paul,  the  Rue  St.  Antoine,  the 
Rue  du  Petit  Muse  as  far  north  as  the  Rue  de  la 
Cerisai,  and  on  the  extreme  east  by  the  Boulevard 
Bourdon ;  the  space  covered  by  the  Celestins  Barrack, 
a  part  of  the  Boulevard  Henry  IV.,  and  all  the  ad- 
joining houses,    was  the  property  of  the   Celestins. 


222  PARIS. 

The  Church  and  Cemetery  of  St.  Paul  and  the 
Grange  of  St.  Eloi,  standmg  close  together  on  the 
north-west,  were  also  left  intact. 

Charles  V.  lived  in  this  palace  throughout  his  en- 
tire reign ;  he  seems  to  have  felt  more  safe  there 
from  the  plots  of  the  Prevote  des  Marchands  and  up- 
risings of  the  people  ;  he  was,  moreover,  close  by  the 
headquarters,  at  the  Port  of  St.  Paul,  of  the  Hanse 
Parisienne,  a  corporation  that  had  always  lent  liim  its 
loyal  support.  Even  when  he  had  occasion  to  hold 
his  court  either  in  the  Palais  de  la  Cite  or  at  the 
Louvre,  it  is  stated  that  he  always  returned  to  the 
Hotel  St.  Paul  at  night.  He  was  succeeded  in  1380 
by  his  unfortunate  son,  Charles  lo  Bien-Aime,  who 
here  passed,  almost  without  interruption,  t]ie  forty- 
two  years  of  his  long,  wretched  reign,  during  thirty  of 
which  he  was  subject  to  periodical  attacks  of  insanity. 
During  the  last  eleven  years  of  his  life  the  poor  King, 
now  left  by  his  wife  and  children  entirely  in  the  care 
of  servants,  lived  like  a  prisoner  in  his  own  palace. 
On  his  death,  however  (October  20,  1422),  he  was 
given  a  grand  funeral ;  the  body  lay  in  state  for 
nearly  three  weeks  before  being  taken  to  Notre 
Dame.  When  the  Queen  died  (also  in  the  Hotel 
St.  Paul),  thirteen  years  later,  she  had  become  so 
unpopular  among  the  Parisians  that  her  body,  escorted 
only  by  two  or  three  servants,  was  put  by  night  in  a 
small  boat  and  carried  off  to  St.  Denis,  where  it  was 
given  "  the  burial  of  any  simple  demoiselle." 


PAKIS  OF  THE  LATER  MIDDLE  AGES.        223 

When  Charles  VII.  entered  Paris  in  1437,  after 
the  evacuation  of  the  English,  he  showed  no  desire 
to  occupy  either  the  Hotel  des  Tournelles,  whose  last 
tenant  had  been  the  Duke  of  Bedford,  nor  the  Hotel 
St.  Paul,  filled  with  painful  associations  both  of  his 
father  and  mother,  but  established  himself  at  the 
Hotel  Neuf  close  by  on  the  Rue  du  Petit-Musc.  (It 
took  later  the  name  of  Hotel  de  Bretagne,  "vvhen 
Charles  VIII.  gave  it  to  Anne  of  Brittany.) 

But  in  fsict  Charles  le  Victoriux  did  not  like  Paris, 
and  stayed  there  as  little  as  possible.  Then  came 
Louis  XI.,  who,  notwithstanding  the  Patents  of 
Charles  V.,  by  which  the  Hotel  St.  Paul  was  always 
to  be  royal  property,  began  its  alienation  from  the 
crown  by  giving  a  part  of  the  Hotel  de  la  Peine  to 
his  Chamberlain,  and  from  then  on  this  hotel  ceased 
to  be  the  residence  of  the  court. 

The  Church  of  St.  Paul  (called  originally  aux 
Cliamijs)  was  entirely  rebuilt  during  the  latter  part 
of  the  fourteenth  and  early  part  of  the  fifteenth  cen- 
turies ;  the  principal  relic,  a  black  font  wherein  at 
least  two  Kings  of  France  were  baptized  (John  the 
Loyal  and  Charles  V.)  is  now  in  the  Church  of 
Medan,  near  Poissy. 

The  establishment  of  the  Celestins,  mentioned 
above  as  adjoining  the  Palais  de  St.  Paul  on  the 
south,  was  founded  by  Garnicr  Marcel  in  a  very 
small  way,  but  afterwards  so  enriched  and  enlarged 
by  Charles  V.,  who  built  the  church,  dormitory,  re- 


224  PAKIS. 

fectory,  cloister  and  chapter  house,  that  he  was  con- 
sidered the  founder,  and  so  represented  in  a  statue 
over  the  principal  entrance  to  the  church,  -with  his 
wife  beside  him,  holding  in  his  hands  a  model  of  the 
building.  The  Celestin  Convent  was  the  seat  of  the 
King's  notaries  or  secretaries  in  all  matters  relating 
to  the  canon  law,  and  as  such  acquired  enormous 
wealth.  The  church,  built  in  a  rather  heavier  and 
ruder  style  than  most  other  buildings  of  the  period, 
was  nevertheless  filled  with  magnificent  tombs,  statues, 
stained-glass  windows  and  rich  decorations.  It  be- 
came very  much  the  fashion  to  be  buried  there,  and 
many  prominent  persons  who  had  made  gifts  to  the 
convent  claimed  the  right  to  receive  their  last  com- 
munion, die  and  be  buried,  wearing  the  dress  of  the 
order,  in  which,  moreover,  they  were  represented  in 
bas-relief  on  the  tops  of  the  flat  tombs.  This  cus- 
tom continued  until  the  sixteenth  century. 

.  The  Hotel  des  Tournelles,  which  lay  just  north  of 
this  group,  and  which  we  have  already  mentioned 
more  than  once,  was  built  by  Charles  V.,  and  took 
its  name  from  the  quantity  of  little  towers  with  which 
the  architect  had  crowned  it,  more  by  way  of  orna- 
ment than  with  a  view  to  defense.  It  stood  on  the 
site  of  the  old  palace  of  the  Chancellor  Pierre  Orge- 
mont.  It  was  surrounded  originally  by  a  small 
wood,  called  pare  des  Tournelles,  which  gave  its  name 
to  the  present  Rue  du  Pare  Royal  that  opens  from 
the  Rue  Turenne,  at  the  end  of  the  Rue  Sevigne. 


PARIS  OF  THE  LATER  MIDDLE  AGES.        225 

The  palace  Avas  enlarged  and  beautified  by  the  Duke 
of  Bedford,  Avho  lived  there  throughout  the  occupa- 
tion of  Paris  by  the  English,  preferring  it  to  the 
Royal  Palace  of  St.  Paul,  even  Avhen,  by  the  death 
of  his  brother,  Henry  V.,  he  became  Regent  of  France. 

Although  Louis  XI.,  on  the  night  of  his  formal 
entry  into  Paris  in  1461,  slept,  according  to  custom, 
in  the  Palais  de  la  Cite,  he  made  the  Tournelles  his 
residence  on  that  and  all  subsequent  visits  to  the 
capital. 

Under  Charles  VIII.  the  court  remained  most  of 
the  time  in  the  Chateau  de  Blois,  built  by  him.  But 
Louis  XII.  had  the  greatest  liking  for  the  Tournelles 
Palace,  where,  in  fact,  he  spent  the  happiest  years 
of  his  reign  in  the  company  of  his  beloved  Anne  of 
Brittany  ;  here  he  brought  his  third  wife,  the  youth- 
ful Mary  of  England,  and  here  he  died  on  January 
2,  1515,  the  crieurs  des  corps  running  through  the 
streets  of  Paris  ringing  their  bells  and  calling  out 
mournfully,  "  Good  King  Louis,  father  of  his  people, 
is  dead !" 

The  district  lying  north  and  west  of  the  Bastille, 
"  the  Marsh,"  had  undergone  great  changes  since  the 
suppression  of  the  Order  of  Templars  in  1313.  Their 
great  commandery,  become  the  property  of  the  Knights 
Hospitallers  of  St.  John  (at  this  time  called  the  Knights 
of  Rhodes),  remained,  it  is  true,  for  two  hundred 
years  pretty  much  as  they  left  it,  and  for  half  a  cen- 
tury the  towers  were  used  as  State  Prisons,  but  the 

15 


226  PAKIS. 

great  estate  which  had  formerly  belonged  to  it  was 
divided  into  three  parts  when  the  wall  of  Charles  V. 
{i.e.,  the  wall  originated  by  Etienne  Marcel)  enclosed 
the  whole  within  the  city  limits.  Two  of  these  divis- 
ions were  covered  with  streets  and  houses,  while  the 
third  was  left  unbuilt  upon  till  the  time  of  Louis  XIII. 

The  palace  of  Charles  de  Savoisy,  Chamberlain  of 
Charles  VI.,  in  the  present  Rue  Pavee,  was  pulled 
down  under  circumstances  which  give  striking  proof 
of  the  autocratic  power  of  the  University  at  that 
time.  In  July,  1408,  some  students  were  going  in 
procession  to  the  Church  of  Ste.  Catherine  du  Val 
des  Ecoliers,  when  a  servant  of  the  Chamberlain's  re- 
turning from  the  river,  where  he  had  been  bathing  a 
horse,  galloped  through  the  midst  of  them  and  spat- 
tered one  of  the  company  with  mud;  this  one  promptly 
struck  him  with  his  fist.  The  servant  called  his  mates, 
and  they  chased  the  students  to  the  church  door.  As 
Savoisy  declined  to  dismiss  his  men,  the  Rector  of  the 
University  cited  him  to  appear  before  the  State  Coun- 
cil, with  the  extraordinary  result  that  he  was  con- 
demned to  pay  a  fine  of  fifteen  hundred  pounds  to 
the  students  wounded  in  the  melee,  one  thousand 
pounds  to  the  University,  to  require  three  of  his 
people  to  do  public  penance  in  shirts  and  with  torches 
in  their  hands  in  front  of  three  churches,  and  to  pull 
down  his  dwelling. 

Although  the  King  gave  his  consent  to  the  rebuild- 
ing of  the  hotel   in    1416,    the   University   still  ob- 


PAKIS  OF  THE  LATER  MIDDLE  AGES.        227 

jected,  and  when  a  hundred  years  later  consent  was 
finally  obtained,  it  was  only  on  condition  that  an  in- 
scription recording  the  sentence  should  be  placed  over 
the  main  entrance.  A  little  distance  to  the  north 
stood  the  Hotel  de  Clisson,  built  for  the  Constable  in 
the  reign  of  Charles  VI.  with  money  given  him  for 
the  purpose  by  the  late  King.  The  Prevote  of  Paris 
presented  the  land  on  which  the  hotel  was  erected,  or 
rather  reconstructed  out  of  the  house  of  the  Grand- 
CJiantier  du  Temple^  Avhicli  already  stood  there.  Dur- 
ing the  English  occupation  it  was  confiscated  and 
given  to  the  Duke  of  Clarence,  brother  of  Henry  V. 

We  have  seen  how  the  Cemetery  of  the  Holy  In- 
nocents had  been  enclosed  by  Philip-Augustus  with  a 
wall  in  order  to  keep  out  the  roughs  and  hangers-on 
of  the  Halles  close  by,  but  as  it  was  left  open  during 
the  day,  these  disorders  soon  recommenced.  The 
neighborhood  Avas  always  the  resort  of  idlers  and 
knaves,  who  found  there  convenient  nooks,  especially 
in  the  cemetery,  for  spending  the  night,  and  plenty 
of  dupes  attracted  by  the  market,  innocents,  as  they 
were  called  in  an  old  play  on  the  word.  The  "  Jour- 
nal d'un  Bourgeois  "  describes  the  coming  of  a  Cor- 
delier called  Brother  Richard  to  Paris,  and  how  he 
preached  at  the  Innocents,  a  Vendroit  de  la  Dance 
Macabre,  on  Sunday,  beginning  at  five  in  the  morn- 
ing and  keeping  on  till  between  ten  and  eleven  o'clock, 
to  a  crowd  of  five  or  six  thousand  persons. 

In  the  sixteenth  century  the  people  living  in  the 


228  PARIS. 

adjoining  Kue  aux  Fers  brought  an  injunction  to 
compel  the  Chapter  of  St.  Germain  to  barricade  the 
gate  of  the  cemetery  in  that  street  in  order  to  pre- 
vent the  poor  people  from  lodging  there  at  night,  as 
they  brought  contagious  diseases  and  indulged  in  dis- 
orderly conduct. 

We  have  spoken  of  the  charnel-houses,  for  tlie  re- 
ception of  bones  unearthed  in  digging  fresh  graves, 
which  had  been  jjlaced  along  the  Avails  in  the  Ceme- 
tery dcs  Innocents  ;  in  the  arcades  of  one  of  these, 
bordering  on  the  Rue  Ferronnerie,  Avas  the  original 
representation  of  the  Dance  Macabre.*  Abbe  Du- 
four  quotes  a  notice  in  the  Journal  de  Paris  sous 
Charles  VI.  et  Charles  VII.,  which,  under  date  of 
1424,  says  that  this  wall  painting  Avas  begun  about 
August  and  finished  in  the  follo\A'ing  Lent ;  he  at- 
tributes it  to  Jean  d'Orleans.  In  the  divisions  Avere 
painted  liA'ing  figures  representing  all  the  different 
grades  of  society  from  Popes  and  Emperors  doAvn, 
each  accompanied  by  a  skeleton,  Avhile  beloAV  ran  a 
rhyming  dialogue,  the  address  made  by  Death,  and 
the  reply  of  the  living.  On  the  principal  entrance 
to  the  cemetery  AA-as  carved,  in  1408,  the  legend  of 
the  "  three  dead  and  the  three  living,"  suggested 
by  Orcagna's  "  Triumph  of  Death "  in  the  Campo 
Santo  of  Pisa.  This  sculpture  Avas  executed  by  order 
of  the  Due   de   Berry   in   memory   of   his  nephew, 

*  Dance,  in  the  sense  of  a  procession  ;  macabre,  from  an  Arabic 
Avord  signifying  a  place  Avhere  there  are  tombs, — a  cemetery. 


PAKIS  OF  THE  LATER  MIDDLE  AGES.        229 

Louis,  Duke  of  Orleans,  murdered  by  his  cousin  the 
Duke  of  Burgundy  three  days  after  they  had  supped 
together,  in  sign  of  reconciliation,  at  the  house  of 
their  old  uncle. 

North  of  the  cemetery,  and  close  to  the  Halles, 
was  an  open  space,  the  place  mix  Marchands,  in  the 
centre  of  which  stood  a  cross  and  a  pillory.  This 
last  was  a  two-storied  octagonal  tower,  the  upper  part 
having  a  high  window  in  each  division  ;  in  the  cen- 
tre was  a  large  iron  wheel,  by  whose  means  the  frame 
(through  round  holes  in  Avhich  the  head  and  hands 
of  the  offender  were  thrust)  could  be  made  to  revolve 
slowly  so  that  all  the  spectators  should  have  equal 
opportunities  for  beholding  the  edifying  show.  The 
exhibition  extended  over  three  market-days,  three 
hours  every  day,  the  wheel  being  turned  every  half 
hour. 

Here  took  place  as  well  some  of  the  public  execu- 
tions. The  executioner  had  the  right  to  live  on  the 
Plme  de  Pilori  and  nowhere  else,  and  was  also  allowed 
a  certain  fixed  amount  of  each  kind  of  merchandise  ex- 
posed for  sale  in  the  adjoining  Halles.  The  pillory 
and  scaffold  had  to  be  rebuilt  in  1516,  when  the 
people  became  so  indignant  with  a  certain  Fleurant, 
who  had  to  strike  a  number  of  times  before  sever- 
ing the  head  of  a  criminal,  that  they  burned  them 
both  down,  the  executioner  being  suffocated  by  the 
smoke  in  the  cellar  underneath,  where  he  had  taken 
refuge.      At  the  foot  of  the  great  stone  cross  hard  by 


230  PAKIS. 

the  condemned  formally  assigned  their  property  to 
their  creditors  and  had  the  green  cap  placed  on  their 
heads  by  the  executioner.  Without  this  ceremony 
the  transfer  was  not  considered  valid. 

Following  the  Rue  St.  Honore  to  the  west,  a  few 
minutes'  walk  would  have  brought  us  to  the  new  quar- 
ter, once  a  faubourg,  but  now  enclosed  by  the  walls 
of  Charles  V.     The   swine-market  and  gallows  be- 
longing to  the  jurisdiction  of  the  Bishop  were  moved 
outside  the  walls  to  the   small  hill  formed  from  the 
earth  dug  out  of  the  new  trenches,  only  the  sheep- 
market  being  left  in  its  old  place,  and  before  long  a 
number  of  houses   and   hotels   were   put   up.      The 
large  gardens  of  the  College  des  Bons  Enfants  ran 
nearly  as  far  as  the  Rue  des  Petits-Champs,  which  we 
now  call  Rue   Croix-des-Petits-Champs ;  facing  this 
street,  and  backing  on  the  garden,  were  some  houses 
belonging    to    a    loyal    supporter    of   the    Constable 
d'Armagnac,  one   de  Bonpuits,  who  held,  under  the 
Constable,  the   office  of  sheriff.     In  the  open   space 
before   his  houses   he   erected  a  large   stone    cross, 
which  stood  there  until  the  Revolution.     When  the 
Burgundians  got  possession  of  Paris  he  was  obliged 
to  flee,  and  all  his  property  was  confiscated. 

The  hotels  of  his  patron  in  the  neighborhood,  the 
principal  one  of  which  stood  at  the  corner  of  the 
Rues  St.  Honore  and  Bons  Enfants,  met  with  a  similar 
fate ;  Jean  sans  Peur  acquired  them  for  his  son,  the 
Count  de  Charolais.     Under  Louis  XT.  the  property 


PAKIS  OF  THE  LATER  MIDDLE  AGES.        231 

was  divided  up,  and  passed  into  the  hands  of  a  great 
many  proprietors  before  the  main  hotel  finally  came 
into  the  possession  of  Richelieu. 

The  great  Hotel  d'Angennes  stood  further  down 
the  Rue  St.  Honore,  being,  in  fact,  bounded  on  one 
side  by  the  walls  of  the  town.  This  hotel,  probably 
put  up  by  Regnauld  d'Angennes,  Captain  of  the 
Louvre  under  Charles  VL,  was  confiscated  by  the 
English  and  given  to  a  Seigneur  de  Villiers,  Simon 
Mohrier,  who  had  become  their  ally. 

On  September  8,  1429,  when  Jeanne  d'Arc  led 
the  army  of  Charles  VII.  against  Paris,  this  person- 
age was  one  of  the  most  active  in  driving  back  the 
besiegers. 

The  Duke  d'Alen^on,  with  a  body  of  men,  ap- 
peared before  the  barriere  St.  Denis,  in  order  to 
create  a  diversion,  Avhile  the  Maid,  clad  in  armor  from 
head  to  foot,  and  bearing  her  standard  ornamented 
with  the  lilies  of  France,  advanced  with  a  troop  of 
chevaliers  towards  the  Porte  St.  Honore.  After  cross- 
ing the  road  running  in  front  of  the  swine-market, 
and  planting  some  cidverins  on  the  mound  alluded  to 
above,  she  made  a  rapid  advance  towards  the  walls, 
driving  back  the  English,  panic-stricken  at  the  sight 
of  her.  A  fierce  skirmish  foUoAved ;  the  Duke 
d'Alen^on  and  the  Count  of  Clermont  expecting  a 
sortie,  stationed  an  ambuscade  behind  the  hillock 
where  the  swine-market  stood.  But  the  besieged 
had  all  they  could  do  to  defend   themselves  without 


232  PAKis. 

thinking  of  taking  the  offensive.  La  Pucelle  had 
now  crossed  the  outer  trench  and  stood  on  the  edge 
of  the  moat,  whose  waters  lapped  the  foot  of  the  city 
walls.  Gauging  its  depth  with  the  staff  of  her  stand- 
ard, she  called  for  "  Logs,  timber,  something  to  make 
a  bridge  and  help  us  to  mount  the  walls !"  She  her- 
self was  the  first  to  make  this  dangerous  attempt, 
calling  meanwhile  for  her  "  gentil  Dauphin"  to  come 
to  her  aid.  But  the  King  failed  to  appear,  and  her 
own  people  lent  but  a  half-hearted  support.  "  Yield," 
she  shouted  to  the  Parisians  ;  "  yield  now  while  you 
can,  for  if  by  night  time  you  have  not  surrendered, 
we  will  enter  the  city  whether  or  no,  and  every  one 
shall  be  put  to  death  Avithout  mercy  !"  But  in  spite 
of  these  brave  Avords  the  city  held  out,  and,  worse 
still,  Jeanne  Avas  presently  severely  wounded  by  an 
arrow  from  a  cross-bow,  and  fell  from  her  horse,  cov- 
ered with  blood,  on  a  spot  lying  a  little  to  the  north 
of  the  present  Place  du  Theatre  Franf;ais,  a  stone's 
throAV  from  Avhere  her  statue  stands  to-day.  According 
to  some  accounts  she  not  only  lay  there  until  even- 
ing, still  encouraging  her  men  Avith  her  A^oice  although 
unable  to  stand,  but  Avas  abandoned  by  them  AA-hen 
the  attack  AA'as  finally  giA-en  up,  only  the  Duke 
d'Alenyon  coming  back  after  dark  and  taking  her  to 
St.  Denis.  But  a  more  likely  Aversion  tells  us  that 
La  Hire,  Dunois,  Xaintrailles,  and  all  the  most  promi- 
nent knights  of  her  company  fought  valiantly  to  pre- 
vent her  from  falling  into  the  hands  of  the  EngHsh. 


PAEIS  OF  THE  LATER  MIDDLE  AGES.        233 

Whichever  is  correct,  the  royal  army,  utterly  dis- 
couraged by  their  repulse,  raised  the  siege  four  days 
later  and  withdrew  in  the  direction  of  St.  Denis. 

Simon  JVEohricr,  although  an  ardent  supporter  of 
the  English  to  the  very  end,  seems  to  have  by  some 
means  made  his  peace  Avith  Charles  VII.,  for  Ave  find 
him  re-established  in  the  house  on  the  Rue  Honore 
after  the  Constable  Richmond  had  Avon  back  the 
capital.  Mohrier  died  probably  in  1460,  and  in  the 
same  year  the  Angennes,  Seigneurs  of  Rambouillet, 
were  given  back  their  hotel,  of  which  they  retained 
peaceable  possession  for  a  century  and  a  half. 

The  establishment  of  the  Quinze-Vingts,  an  insti- 
tution for  the  blind,  founded  by  Saint  Louis  outside 
the  walls  of  Philip-Augustus,  has  been  spoken  of  in 
a  preAdous  chapter.  The  new  fortifications  put  up 
by  Etienne  Marcel,  called  the  Avail  of  Charles  V.,  in- 
cluded not  only  the  LouA^re  Avithin  the  city  limits, 
but  the  Hotel  de  la  Petite-Bretagne  and  the  Hospice 
des  Quinze-Vingts  standing  to  the  Avest.  The  grounds 
of  the  latter  (a  vast  territory  which  on  the  modern 
map  Avould  reach  from  the  Rue  St.  Honore  on  the 
north  to  about  the  middle  of  the  Place  du  Carrousel, 
and  from  the  line  of  the  Pont  de  Solferino  and  the 
Rue  Castiglione,  on  the  Avest,  to  the  line  of  the  Pont 
du  Carrousel)  Avere  cut  in  half  by  the  ncAV  Avail.  In 
1356  the  municipality  ordered  a  party  of  bourgeois 
to  have  trenches  dug  from  the  old  tuileries  (or  tile- 
kilns),    situated   just   about   where   the   Pavilion   de 


234  PARIS. 

Lesdiguieres  is  now,  to  the  FiUes-Dieii  •  beyond  these, 
■walls  were  built  a  little  later,  strengthened  at  inter- 
vals with  strong  towers,  projecting  beyond  the  line 
of  the  fortifications,  and  other  devices  such  as  over- 
hanging balconies  of  stone  and  watch-towers,  from 
cover  of  which  projectiles  could  be  showered  down 
upon  the  enemy,  if  they  had  gained  the  second  moat. 
In  addition  to  these  there  were  small  constructions  at 
the  foot  of  the  trenches,  backing  on  the  slope  of  the 
fortifications,  manned  Avith  archers  Avho  could  thus 
protect  the  approaches.  It  was  from  one  of  these 
outposts  that  Jeanne  d'Arc  was  wounded  in  the  at- 
tack of  September  8,  1429. 

The  wall  of  Charles  V.  terminated  Avith  the  Tour 
du  Bois,  corresponding  to  the  Tour  du  Coin  of  Philip- 
Augustus'  wall.  It  closely  resembled  the  Tour  de 
Nesle,  apparently  being  built  after  the  same  model. 
It  was  in  three  stories,  terminating  in  a  machicolated 
platform.  On  one  side  it  was  flanked  by  a  turret, 
ending  in  a  Avatch-tower  AAdiich  rose  above  the  plat- 
form, reached  by  a  stairway  in  this  turret. 

The  Tour  du  Bois  dates  from  1383,  the  period  of 
the  Maillotin  riots  ;  at  this  time  the  Avails  Avere  com- 
pleted, but  it  Avas  a  recognized  necessity  to  finish  the 
Bastille  and  to  build  a  fortified  tower  close  to  the 
Louvre,  so  that  the  two  main  approaches  to  Paris 
might  be  Avell  protected. 

The  name.  Tour  dii  Sois,  came  from  one  of  those 
wooden  fortresses  called  "bastides"  or  "  Chateaux  de 


PARIS  OF  THE  LATER  MIDDLE  AGES.        235 

Bois,"  which,  more  rapidly  constructed  and  at  less  ex- 
pense, usually  preceded  tlie  more  lasting  one  of 
masonry. 

It  was  built  at  the  expense  of  the  city,  as  much  by 
way  of  punishment  for  the  revolt  as  in  continuation 
of  the  custom  of  requiring  Paris  to  contribute  out  of 
its  own  pocket  towards  its  own  "  tuition." 

Like  the  walls,  the  Tour  du  Bois  Avas  then  muni- 
cipal })roperty.  The  third  floor  was  used  as  a  store- 
room for  arms  and  armor,  and  the  two  others  were 
rented  out  to  a  private  individual,  with  the  under- 
standing, however,  that  he  was  always  to  allow  free 
access  to  the  sluice,  by  which  the  water  for  the 
trenches  was  controlled. 

This  tower,  which  is  not  only  the  best  known  part 
of  the  wall  of  Charles  V.,  figuring  as  it  does  in  all 
the  maps  and  engravings  of  the  period,  but  acts  as  a 
connecting  link  with  the  important  changes  of  the 
succeeding  hundred  years,  is  the  point  at  which  we 
will  close  our  survey  of  the  northern  bank  at  that 
date.  We  have  described  its  principal  buildings,  the 
Louvre,  the  Hotel  de  Ville,  the  Bastille,  the  Chateletj 
and  its  various  quarters,  the  Marais,  the  Rue  St. 
Honore,  and,  lastly,  the  line  of  the  Tuileries  ;  let  us 
now  cross  over  to  the  Island  of  the  Cite,  beginning 
with  the  Palace. 

When  we  last  saw  the  Palais  de  la  Cite  Parliament 
was  sitting  in  state  to  confirm  the  regency  of  Philip 
the  Long  and  arrange  for  the  succession.      In  1356, 


236  PAKIS. 

forty  years  later,  we  find  King  John  presiding  over 
the  first  "  lit  de  justice  "  held  there,  and  giving  sen- 
tence against  Charles  the  Bad,  King  of  Navarre. 

The  King,  wearing  his  crown  and  royal  robes,  Avas 
seated  on  a  sort  of  bed  or  couche  de  hois,  covered  with 
a  rich  stuff  embroidered  in  fleurs  de  lis,  placed  on  a 
dais  no  less  magnificent.  Although  such  a  short 
time  had  elapsed  since  the  Palais  had  been  almost 
rebuilt,  it  was  now  necessary  to  enlarge  it  again ; 
this  was  done  by  raising  the  roof  and  converting  the 
lofts  into  habitable  rooms.  It  was  there  that  the 
Dauphin  had  his  apartments  at  the  time  of  the  revolt 
under  Marcel,  February  22,  1358.  The  Provost  at 
the  head  of  some  thousands  of  armed  workmen  whom 
he  had  assembled  in  St.  Eloi,  close  by,  forced  the 
Palace  doors,  and,  making  his  way  to  the  Dauphin's 
room,  murdered  the  two  marshals  of  Normandy  and 
Champagne,  before  his  eyes.  Etienne  Marcel  is  said 
to  have  saved  the  Dauphin  from  a  similar  fate  by 
placing  his  own  red  and  blue  cap,  the  colors  of  the 
city  of  Paris,  on  his  head  and  himself  taking  the 
Dauphin's. 

The  rebels  meanwhile  dragged  the  bleeding  bodies 
of  their  victims  down  the  stairs,  and  after  passing 
through  the  long  gallery  connecting  the  Ste.  Chapelle 
and  the  Grand  Salle,  the  Mercerie  da  Palais,  as  it 
Avas  called,  flung  them  on  the  great  marble  table, 
where  they  stayed  for  several  days,  no  one  having 
the  courage  to  claim  them. 


PARIS  OF  THE  LATER  MIDDLE  AGES.        2-37 

Two  years  later,  when  the  revolt  was  crushed, 
Charles  was  obliged,  notwithstanding  these  horrible 
associations,  to  again  occupy  the  Palais  de  la  Cite. 
The  Louvre  had  not  yet  been  altered,  nor  the  Hotel 
St.  Paul  built.  With  a  view  to  greater  security, 
however,  he  reorganized  the  office  of  concierge  or 
bailiff,  appointing  Philip  de  Savoisy  "  bailli  royal." 
All  the  ke^  s  of  the  Palace  were  given  into  his  charge, 
except  those  of  the  main  entrance,  which  the  door- 
keeper kept.  Among  the  many  perquisites  attach- 
ing to  this  office  that  of  the  right  to  help  one's  self  to 
''  coal,  logs,  and  cinders  "  from  the  royal  kitchen  may 
have  given  rise  to  the  right  claimed  by  "  portiers  " 
to-day  to  the  first  log  "  la  premiere  buche." 

The  most  important  function  of  the  haiUi  was  the 
exercise  of  justice  "  haute  et  basse  "  over  a  territory 
bounded  by  the  Palace  itself,  the  two  arms  of  the 
Seine,  and  the  moat  running  along  the  eastern  fa9ade 
between  it  and  the  Riie  Barilleries.  He  was  supplied 
with  all  the  paraphernalia,  irons,  scaffolds,  prisons, 
and  dungeons,  these  latter  equalling  in  horror  even 
those  of  the  Chatelet.  Some  of  them  were  situated 
under  the  reservoirs,  so  that  the  Avater  constantly 
filtered  through,  others  were  deep  underground,  and 
almost  all  were  raised  above  the  level  of  the  galleries, 
so  that  they  could  only  be  entered  with  ladders. 
Each  one  could  hold  about  fifty  prisoners.  Two  wells 
(brought  to  light  early  in  the  present  century  under 
the  Tower  of  Bon-Bee)  served  as  oubliettes,  their 


238  PARIS. 

bottoms  being  on  a  level  with  the  Seine,  and  the 
sides  studded  with  sharp  pieces  of  iron,  which  caught 
and  tore  the  flesh  of  the  victim  as  he  was  hurled 
down.  When  the  river  was  flooded,  as  for  instance 
in  1326  when  Charles  TV.  was  kept  prisoner  in  the 
palace,  the  water  would  flow  up  the  channel  high 
enough  to  clear  it  of  any  bodies  lying  there. 

There  Avere  also  great  entertainments  at  the  Palace 
so  long  as  it  was  a  royal  residence.  Probably  the 
most  magnificent  one  was  that  given  by  Charles  V. 
in  honor  of  the  Emperor  Charles  IV.  and  his  son, 
King  of  the  Romans.  On  the  first  evening  a  mag- 
nificent supper  was  served  to  the  various  princes  and 
eight  hundred  attendant  knights.  On  the  following 
day,  we  are  told  that  the  Emperor  was  suffering  so 
from  gout  that  he  had  to  be  carried  to  hear  raa?s  in 
the  Ste.  Chapelle,  and  to  kiss  the  Holy  Relics  pre- 
served there. 

The  festivities  celebrating  the  marriage  of  Charles 
VI.  and  Isabella,  of  Bavaria,  and  her  coronation  in 
the  Sainte  Chapelle,  and  those  held  during  the  visit 
of  the  Qiieen  of  England,  and  when  the  Emperor 
Sigismund  passed  through  Paris,  were  all  given  at 
the  Palais  de  la  Cite.  On  these  occasions  everything 
in  the  Palais  had  to  give  way,  the  courts  Avere  obliged 
to  suspend  their  hearings,  and  Parliament  to  sit  else- 
where, usually  at  St.  Eloi,  or  at  the  Augustins,  on  the 
left  bank.  When  Sigismund  came,  however,  in  1416, 
the  times  were  so  hard  that  very  little  could  be  done 


PAKIS  OF  THE  LATER  MIDDLE  AGES.        239 

in  the  way  of  entertainment,  and  instead  of  inter- 
rupting the  session  of  Parliament,  the  King  invited 
him  not  only  to  attend,  but,  by  way  of  amusement 
and  distraction,  to  preside,  much  to  the  indignation 
of  the  Lords  of  the  Grand  Chambre,  who  did  not  at 
all  enjoy  being  presided  over  by  a  foreigner. 

Queen  Isabella,  to  whom  nothing  bringing  in  reve- 
nues came  amiss,  took  the  office  of  Concierge  du 
Palais  for  herself,  with  all  privileges  and  perquisites 
attaching  thereto.  The  document  recording  this  fact 
bears  date  of  1412,  and  as  late  as  1808  the  part  of 
the  main  building  adjoining  the  rooms  of  La  Tour- 
nelle,  on  the  Quai  de  FHorloge,  was  called  hotel  Isabeau, 
having  without  doubt  been  repaired  and  occupied — 
possibly  even  built — by  the  Queen-Concierge. 

There  are  many  allusions  to  the  Sainte  Chapelle 
during  this  reign  of  Charles  VI.  Thus  the  spire, 
made  of  wood  and  covered  with  lead,  was  renewed, 
gifts  were  made  to  the  shrine,  concessions,  privileges, 
none  of  which,  however,  saved  it  from  desecration 
and  pillage  under  the  Burgundian  riots.  "  How 
many  precious  objects,"  exclaims  Jerome  Moraud, 
"  were  stolen,  ruined,  or  burned,  in  the  reign  of 
Charles  VI.  !" 

The  insurgents,  called  in  a  document  of  that  year 
(1417)  Communes,  forced  an  entrance  by  one  of  the 
doors  of  the  Tournelle,  on  the  north  side  of  the 
Palace,  and  after  murdering  the  higher  officials  con- 
fined in  the  Tower — the  Constable  of   France,  the 


240  PARIS. 

Chancellor,  and  others — massacred  the  prisoners  in 
the  Conciergerie  and  a  number  of  lawyers  of  the 
Parliament,  and  then  pillaged  the  Sainte-Chapelle. 

At  the  consecration  of  Henry  VI.,  of  England, 
which  took  place  there,  the  officiating  Bishop,  Win- 
chester, allowed  some  of  the  royal  household  to  carry 
off  the  magnificent  plate  that  had  been  used  in  the 
ceremony. 

When  Charles  VII.  made  his  entry  into  Paris,  he 
found  the  statue  of  Henry  V.  of  England  occupy- 
ing a  niche  in  the  Grand,  Salle,  in  the  series  of  the 
Kings  of  France,  and  allowed  it  to  remain,  content- 
ing himself  v/ith  merely  mutilating  the  face. 

It  was  here  that,  under  the  same  King,  a  curious 
scene  took  place  in  1440.  A  woman  had  been  going 
about  through  the  towns  and  villages  of  France,  pro- 
claiming that  she  was  Jeanne  d'Arc,  and  the  people 
w^ere  beginning  to  believe  her.  In  order  to  put  an 
end  to  the  imposture,  the  King  had  her  arrested  and 
brought  to  Paris,  wdiere,  mounted  on  the  marble 
table,  she  was  made  to  confess  to  the  crowds  assem- 
bled for  the  purpose  that  she  was  not  the  Pucelle, 
but  was  married,  and  had  two  sons. 

The  clerks  of  the  Basoche  used  the  marble  table 
for  their  stage  wdien  acting  on  certain  days  of  the 
year  those  farces  Avhich  got  them  into  trouble  under 
Louis  XL  This  curious  institution,  the  court  of  the 
Basoche,  had  its  origin  under  Philippe  le  Bel ;  the 
clerks,  acting  as  lawyers  and  judges  themselves,  set- 


PARIS  OF  THE  LATER  MIDDLE  AGES.        241 

tied  all  questions  arising  between  their  own  members, 
or  Avitli  outsiders.  It  was  modelled  exactly  after  the 
regular  courts  of  justice,  had  its  attorneys,  advocate- 
general,  chancellor,  and  so  on,  the  presiding  officer 
bearing  the  title  of  ^'  King  of  the  Basoche,"  until 
Henry  HI.  took  it  away  from  him.  The  name 
Basoche  has  been  traced  to  the  Latin  Avord  basilica, 
originally  indicating  a  seat  of  justice.  This  minia- 
ture court  held  its  sessions  in  the  Salle  de  St.  Louis, 
and  its  curious  annual  "  review  "  in  the  great  court 
of  the  Palace,  another  annual  celebration,  in  which 
the  clerks  of  the  Chatelet  took  part,  was  held  on  the 
last  day  of  May,  when  a  "  May-pole,"  erected  the 
previous  year  was  taken  down  and  a  new  one  put  up. 
The  Coiir  de  Mai  gets  its  name  from  this  custom. 

In  the  beginning  of  his  reign,  Louis  XL  had  the 
Palace  Gardens  laid  out  anew  (the  grape  arbors 
especially  having  fallen  into  ruins),  apparently  with 
the  idea  of  making  it  his  residence  ;  but  after  1465, 
when  Parliament  had  had  the  audacity  to  disapprove 
of  his  revocation  of  the  Pragmatic  Sanction,  he  was 
too  much  offended  to  occupy  the  building  where  that 
body  held  its  sittings,  and  only  went  there  on  certain 
special  occasions,  such  as  the  feasts  of  Saint  Louis, 
or  Charlemagne.  These  two  kings  he  proposed  to 
hold  in  great  veneration,  and  had  their  statues  re- 
moved from  the  series  of  the  Kings  of  France  and 
placed  in  the  little  chapel  he  had  fitted  out  at  the 
northern  end  of  the  Grand' Salle,  adjoining  the  apart- 

16 


242  PAKIS. 

ments  of  Saint  Louis.  "  It  is  there,"  says  one  his- 
torian, "  that  they  say  the  Mass  for  Messieurs." 
Louis  had  also  a  small  oratory  put  up  in  the  lower 
church  of  the  Sainte-Chapelle,  through  the  little 
grated  window  of  which  he  could  see  the  altar,  and 
take  part  in  the  services  without  being  seen. 

Under  Charles  VIIL  both  Palais  and  Sainte-Cha- 
pelle  were  largely  restored.  The  west  fa(;ade  of  the 
latter  was  almost  rebuilt,  a  new  rose-window  replaced 
the  original  one,  and  the  balustrade  above  it  and  the 
two  little  spires  on  the  gables  were  renewed.  It  is  at 
this  time,  too,  that  we  find  the  first  mention  of  organs 
in  the  Sainte-Chapelle,  and  the  outer  stair,  by  which 
it  could  be  entered  directly  from  the  court,  obviating 
the  necessity — which  again  exists  to-day — of  going 
through  the  Gallerie  Merciere.  An  addition  to  the 
Palace  of  the  same  date  was  the  extension  of  the 
Chambre  des  Comptes,  at  the  end  of  the  Sainte- 
Chapelle  court,  to  the  north. 

The  apartments  of  Saint  Louis  were  still  preserved, 
and  the  bedchamber  occupied  by  him  on  his  wedding- 
night  was  always  used  by  his  successors  on  the  night 
of  their  formal  entry  as  King  into  Paris.  But  as  a 
regular  residence,  the  Palais  is  unused  after  the  Eng- 
lish wars.  It  becomes  only  the  courts  of  Law,  which 
it  still  is. 

When  Louis  XII.  returned  from  Italy  in  1500  he 
brought  with  him  a  monk,  a  native  of  Verona,  named 
Fra  Giovanni  Giocondo,  under  whose  directions  the 


PARIS  OF  THE  LATER  MIDDLE  AGES.        243 

Grcancl'  Chambre  was  magnificently  restored,  and  so 
lavishly  decorated  and  gilded  that  it  became  known 
henceforth  by  the  name  of  la  chamhre  dorce.  At  the 
foot  of  the  hall  hung  the  picture  of  the  crucifixion, 
by  Van  Eyck,  afterwards  removed  to  the  first  cham- 
ber of  the  Court  of  Appeal. 

Fra  Giovanni  also  erected  by  order  of  Louis  the 
three  wings  of  the  Chambre  des  CNjmptes,  the  first 
only  having  been  put  up  under  Charles  VIII.  The 
King  was  represented  on  the  facade,  Avith  his  device, 
a  porcupine,  and  below  the  inscription,  "  Ludovicus 
hujus  nominis  duodecim,  anno  suai  setatis  XLVI.," 
showing  that  the  building  must  have  been  finished  in 
1508. 

Another  and  still  more  important  work  in  which 
the  Italian  artist  had  a  hand  was  the  reconstruction 
of  the  Pont  Notre  Dame.  In  1412,  the  ancient 
Grand  Pont  having  entirely  disappeared,  except  for 
some  vestiges  of  the  arch  nearest  the  right  bank,  the 
city  got  permission  from  the  King  and  the  monks  of 
St.  Magloire  to  rebuild  it ;  and  a  year  later  the  King, 
accompanied  by  his  court,  baptized  it  Pont  Notre 
Dame.  Although  in  the  description  of  Guilbert  de 
Metz,  written  in  1422,  the  new  bridge  figures  as  a 
model  of  beaut}-  and  strength  Avith  its  seventeen 
roAvs  of  thirty  piles  each,  by  1440  it  had  to  be  ex- 
tensively repaired,  and  fifty-nine  years  later  it  fell  into 
the  river,  carrying  with  it  the  sixty-odd  houses  which 
lined   its   sides,    and  a  number  of   their    occupants. 


244  PAEIS. 

The  blame  of  the  catastrophe  belonged  to  the  Prevot 
des  Marchands  and  the  Sheriffs,  for  they  had  Ijeen 
told  a  year  before,  by  some  master-carpenters,  that  a 
great  many  of  the  piles  were  rotten  and  Avould  soon 
give  Avay  if  not  rencAved,  to  which  warning  the  mu- 
nicipality paid  no  attention.  Arrested  and  tried, 
they  were  condemned  to  pay  such*  enormous  damages 
that  they  are  said  to  have  died  bankrupt,  and  still  in 
prison.  A  commission  was  appointed  to  consider  the 
reconstruction  at  once  of  the  bridge,  which  the  King- 
wished  this  time  to  be  of  stone.  This  commission 
met  on  several  occasions,  and  discussed  plans  for 
raising  the  money.  It  was  suggested  that  they 
should  ask  the  Pope  to  give  them  indulgences  to 
sell ;  that  a  special  tax  should  be  levied  ;  a  public 
subscription  be  opened,  and  so  on  ;  but  nothing  was 
decided.  The  question  was  settled  by  the  King,  who 
issued  letters-royal  the  following  month,  imposing  an 
extra  duty  on  all  fish  and  cloven-footed  animals  sold 
at  the  Halles,  and  on  every  boat-load  of  salt  brought 
up  the  Seine  beyond  the  limits  of  the  Grenier  de 
Verron.  All  the  leading  architects  and  master-work- 
men of  the  day  were  called  on  to  furnish  plans,  and  a 
commission  was  appointed  to  overlook  the  work. 
Fra  Giovanni  Giocondo  must  have  been  an  important 
member  of  this  body,  for  it  is  to  him  that  the  mag- 
nificent results  are  commonly  attributed,  though  the 
register  of  the  Hotel  de  Ville  shows  that  the  plans 
were  by  no  means  entirely  his.      The  first  stone  was 


PAKIS  OF  THE  LATER  MIDDLE  AGES.        245 

laid  in  1500.  Seven  years  later  the  bridge  was  fin- 
ished, and  four  years  after  that  the  last  of  its  houses. 
The  new  bridge,  according  to  all  contemporaneous 
accounts,  was  the  most  magnificent  thing  of  the  kind 
in  Europe.  It  was  built  in  six  great  arches,  the 
piers  resting  on  massive  piles,  and  protected  on  each 
side  by  great  triangidar  blocks  of  stone,  whose  points 
were  designed  to  split  up  floating  masses  of  ice.  On 
the  bridge  were  sixty-eight  houses  of  stone  and  brick, 
each  containing  a  cellar,  a  shop,  a  balcony,  a  kitchen, 
two  chambers,  and  a  loft ;  and  on  each  one  was  writ- 
ten its  number,  in  gold  characters.  Here  we  have 
the  first  attempt  to  number  houses  in  Paris,  and  what 
seems  quite  remarkable,  it  was  done  by  the  most  ap- 
proved method  of  our  day,  i.  e.,  with  the  even  num- 
bers on  one  side  and  the  odd  on  the  other.  In  the 
middle  of  the  bridge  were  statues  of  Our  Lady  and 
Saint  Denis,  and  it  was  paved  just  like  the  streets, 
"  so  that  strangers  thought  themselves  still  on  solid 
ground." 

As  to  the  centre  of  the  island,  most  of  the  changes 
which  took  place  in  this  part  of  the  cite  during  the 
period  of  which  we  treat,  were  in  the  nature  of  addi- 
tions to,  or  restorations  of,  old  bu.ildings.  The  Made- 
leine is  rebuilt,  the  ancient  Halle  de  Beance,  on  the 
right  as  you  go  toward  the  Petit-Pont,  has  become  a 
storehouse  for  grain,  and  for  the  leather  buckets  and 
ladders  to  be  used  in  case  of  fire  in  the  city — the 
first  record,  this,  of  an  organized  defense  against  fire 


246  PARIS. 

in  Paris.  The  existence  of  this  grain  depot  had  at- 
tracted a  great  many  bakers  to  the  neighborhood. 
One  document  shows  twenty-four  of  them  established 
close  by  ;  they  scattered,  however,  when,  in  the  six- 
teenth century,  the  building  was  rented  to  the  well- 
knowm  printer,  Geoffrey  Tory,  who  moved  his  work- 
rooms 'there,  from  the  house  on  the  Petit-Pont, 
together  with  that  sign,  so  dear  to  the  heart  of  the 
bibliophile,  of  the  Fot  casse. 

The  cathedral  church  of  Notre  Dame,  meantime, 
remains  much  as  we  saw  it  last.  During  periods  of 
prosperity  it  is  enriched  by  gifts,  statues  are  erected, 
votive  offerings  placed  on  its  altars. 

Jean  de  Montaigu  presents  the  great  bell  in  1400, 
and  names  it  Jacqueline,  after  his  wife,  and  on  May 
1,  1472,  we  find  it  ringing  the  Angelus.  After 
the  defeat  of  Poictiers  the  bourgeois  of  Paris  vow 
a  taper  the  length  of  the  cite  to  the  Virgin,  in  the 
hope  of  bringing  the  evil  times  to  an  end. 

Here  on  the  day  after  the  tragedy  of  the  Ballet 
des  Ardents,  at  the  Hotel  St.  Paul,  when  the  King 
so  nearly  lost  his  life,  we  see  the  Dukes  of  Berry, 
Burgundy,  and  Orleans,  coming  in  procession,  bare- 
foot, all  the  way  from  the  Porte  Montmartre,  to  hear 
Mass  and  return  thanks  for  the  King's  escape.  The 
little  Enghsh  Prince  Henry  is  crowned  King  of 
France  in  1431,  and  six  years  later  Charles  VII. 
presents  himself  before  the  altar  of  Notre  Dame  to 
return  solemn  thanks  to  God  for  the  recovery  of  his 


PARIS  OF  THE  LATER  MIDDLE  AGES.        247 

Kingdom.  It  became  the  fixed  custom  of  his  suc- 
cessors, on  their  state  entry  into  Paris,  to  withdraw 
from  the  brilliant  cortege  at  the  Pont  Notre  Dame, 
with  only  a  few  members  of  the  suite,  and  in  the 
quiet  and  solitude  of  the  great  Cathedral  to  spend  a 
short  time  in  prayer  to  God. 

The  Petit-Pont  has  been  twice  carried  away  and 
twice  rebuilt  since  we  saw  it  last,  and  the  Petit 
Chatelet  has  been  the  scene  of  a  brutal  massacre  of 
its  prisoners  by  the  Burgundian  rioters  in  1418,  Avhen 
no  less  than  four  bishops  were  among  the  victims. 

We  will  now  pass  in  rapid  review  the  changes  and 
improvements  that  took  place  in  the  domain  of  the 
University  between  the  early  part  of  the  fourteenth 
and  the  beginning  of  the  sixteenth  centuries. 

The  School  of  Medicine,  which  we  left  wandering 
about  from  place  to  place,  and  sometimes  even  hold- 
ing its  meetings  in  Notre  Dame,  has  at  last  acquired 
a  building  on  the  rue  de  la  Blicherie  through  the 
generosity  of  one  of  its  own  faculty.  It  was  opened 
in  1483,  and  in  the  course  of  the  next  twenty  years 
or  so  lecture  halls,  an  amphitheatre  for  anatomical 
clinics,  and  a  small  garden  fur  medicinal  plants  Avere 
added,  after  which  the  medical  college  remained  in 
pretty  much  the  same  state  for  more  than  two  hun- 
dred years. 

A  little  to  the  north  a  new  college  has  been  founded 
in  the  fourteenth  century  for  the  benefit  of  poor 
students  from   Cornwall   to   the  number  of  ten.     Its 


248  PARIS. 

walls  are  still  standing  at  No.  20  Rue  Domat,  which, 
however,  in  the  days  of  the  college  Avas  called  Rue 
du  Platre ;  following  this  street  to  the  Rue  St.  Jacques, 
a  few  steps  to  the  left  will  bring  us  to  the  site  of  the 
Chapel  of  St.  Yves,  dedicated  at  about  the  same  time 
by  a  few  pious  natives  of  Brittany  to  the  patron 
saint  of  lawyers.  The  walls  of  the  interior  used  to 
be  hung,  it  is  said,  with  brief-bags,  placed  there  in 
token  of  gratitude  by  litigants  who  had  won  their 
suits,  thanks  to  the  good  offices  of  the  Saint. 

The  Rue  de  St.  Jean  de  Beauvais,  which  still  re- 
tains its  ancient  name,  and  at  present. runs  from  the 
Boulevard  St.  Germain  to  the  Rue  des  Ecoliers,  is 
called  from  the  college  founded  there  in  1372  by  a 
Bishop  of  Beauvais,  Jean  de  Dormans,  who  became 
Chancellor  of  France  and  a  Cardinal.  Saint  Francis 
Xavier  (before  Ignatius  Loyola  induced  him  to  join 
the  Order  of  Jesuits)  taught  in  the  College  of  Beau- 
vais. 

For  many  generations  most  of  the  jurisconsults, 
magistrates,  advocates,  and  others  learned  in  the  law 
in  Paris,  received  their  training  in  the  law  schools 
Avhich  stood  in  this  street  from  an  early  period.  At 
first  only  ecclesiastical  law  was  taught,  for  a  bull  of 
Honorius  (confirmed  in  1580  by  the  "Ordonnance  de 
Blois ")  forbade  instruction  in  civil  law  to  be  given 
anywhere  but  at  Orleans  or  Poictiers. 

For  the  many  ItaHans  attracted  to  Paris  the  Col- 
lege  des   Lombards  was   founded  on  the   Rue    des 


PARIS  OF  THE  LATER  MIDDLE  AGES.       249 

Carmes,  iu  the  fourteenth  century,  by  a  Florentine 
bislioj)  named  Ghini.  In  the  reign  of  Louis  XII.  its 
principal  was  the  great  Hellenist,  Jerome  Aleandre. 

The  old  Church  of  8t.  Etienne  du  Mont  was  pulled 
down  to  make  way  for  the  existing  beautiful  build- 
ing, whicli,  Ix'gun  iu  1517,  took  a  hundred  years  to 
complete.  During  a  t('rril)le  thunder-storm  in  June, 
1489,  the  neighboring  bell-toAver  of  "  JMadame  Sainte 
Genevieve  an  Mont  de  Paris"  caught  fire;  the  wood- 
work was  all  consumed,  and  the  lead  witli  which  it 
was  overspread,  as  well  as  the  bells,  were  melted  "qui 
estoit  pitie  a  voir."  Contributions  for  the  repairs 
were  asked  for  throughout  not  only  all  Paris,  but  all 
France,  and  Pope  Sixtus  IV.  proclaimed  plenary 
indulgence  to  every  one  visiting  the  church  on  cer- 
tain days  and  giving  something  to  the  fund. 

The  College  de  Lisieux  stood  to  the  west ;  it  Avas 
founded  in  1356  by  Guy  d'Harcourt,  Bishop  of 
Lisieux,  and  enlarged  a  hundred  years  later  by  the 
d'Estouteville  family.  Still  further  west,  across  the 
Rue  St.  Jacques,  yve  find  the  Convent  of  the  Jacobins 
flourishing  greatly,  and  by  Etienne  Marcel's  time 
reaching  out  in  every  direction,  some  of  its  buildings 
being  actually  in  the  fields ;  the  renowned  Provost, 
however,  made  sad  havoc  in  it.  In  order  to  carry 
on  his  city  wall,  some  chapels,  a  part  of  the  cloister 
and  the  infirmary  were  demolished  and  the  cemetery 
suppressed.  Charles  V.  bought  the  Hotel  de  Bourg- 
moyen  in  1362  for  the  Jacobins,  who  pulled  it  down 


250  PARIS. 

and  built  an  infirmary,  paid  for  by  Jeanne  de  Bour- 
bon, and  in  the  reign  of  Louis  XII.  the  order  suc- 
ceeded, much  against  the  will  of  the  municipality,  in 
getting  the  King  to  cede  to  them  the  Parloir  aux 
Bourgeois. 

In  the  Quartier  de  St.  Andre  des  Arts  the  Church 
of  the  Augustins  was  rebuilt  by  Charles  V.,  and  the 
Church  of  St.  Andre  des  Arcs  (or  Arts),  ceded  in 
1345  by  the  Brothers  of  St.  Germain  des  Pres  to  the 
University,  is  frequently  made  the  starting-point  for 
those  stately  processions  by  which  the  faculty  sought  to 
impress  upon  the  bourgeois  and  people  of  Paris  an  idea 
of  the  strength  and  importance  of  the  University. 

Directly  opposite  the  church  a  Bishop  of  Autun 
had  established  a  college  named  after  his  diocese,  for 
fifteen  students — five  to  study  theology,  five  philos- 
ophy, and  five  the  canon  law.  A  curious  inventory 
of  the  furnishings  of  this  college  in  1462  tells  us  that 
the  library  contained  about  two  hundred  volumes, 
some  on  theology,  an  equal  number  on  jui'isprudence, 
and  the  rest  philosophical  works,  notably  commen- 
taries on  some  of  Aristotle's  treatises,  but  not  a  single 
history,  no  woi'k  of  the  heathen  poets,  nor  any  of 
those  epics  of  the  Middle  Ages  so  popular  at  the  time. 

The  act  of  donation  of  the  College  de  Boissi,  dat- 
ing from  the  period  of  Etienne  Marcel  and  the 
Jacquerie,  states  that  it  is  intended  only  for  poor 
boys  of  humble  birth,  "  as  we  and  our  fathers  were." 

The  first  printing-presses  of  Paris  were  set  up  in 


PARIS  OF  THE  LATER  MIDDLE  AGES.        251 

the  Sorbonne  by  Ulric  Gering,  Martin  Krantz,  and 
Michel  de  Colmar,  and  from  these  issued  the  first 
books  printed  in  the  capitaL 

The  Convent  of  the  Mathurins  was  rebuilt  by 
Robert  Gaguin,  Minister-General  of  the  Order,  in  the 
fifteenth  century,  and  author  of  a  history  of  France 
still  consulted  by  students. 

In  1340  the  Order  of  Cluny  acquired  the  ancient 
Palais  des  Thermos,  and  about  a  hundred  years  later 
Jean  de  Bourbon,  natural  son  of  King  John  and 
Abbot  of  the  Order,  began  to  build  on  a  part  of  the 
ruins  the  Hotel  de  Cluny,  which,  when  completed 
about  the  end  of  the  fifteenth  century,  was  consid- 
ered one  of  the  most  magnificent  establishments  in 
Paris.  It  forms  to-day  the  best  example  of  the 
period.  Opposite  it  stood  the  old  Hotel  d'Harcourt, 
with  its  ample  gardens,  Avhich  the  people  ignorantly 
called  the  Palace  of  Julian  the  Apostate. 

North-west  of  the  Hotel  Cluny,  on  a  site  that  is 
now  in  the  middle  of  the  Boulevard  St.  Germain, 
directly  opposite  the  opening  of  the  Rue  Boutebrie, 
stood  the  ancestor  of  the  Observatory  of  Paris.  In 
1371  Maitre  Gervais,  canon  of  Bayeux  and  of  Paris, 
and  physician  to  the  King,  Charles  le  Sage,  founded 
a  college  for  natives  of  the  diocese  of  Bayeux,  some- 
times called  the  College  de  Maitre  Gervais,  and  some- 
times College  de  Notre  Dame  de  Bayeux.  Here 
Charles  endowed  two  scholarships  for  the  study  of 
mathematics,    the    holders    to   go    by   the    name    of 


252  PAEIS. 

"  King's  scholars/'  the  only  conditions  laid  down  be- 
ing that  they  were  to  study  such  works  on  astronomy 
as  were  not  forbidden  by  the  University,  the  King 
himself  providing  the  necessary  instruments  and 
charts. 

South  of  the  Rue  Saint  Victor  was  the  college  of 
Cardinal  Lemoine,  where  the  students  celebrated  every 
13th  of  January  the  generosity  of  the  founder  and 
his  brother.  One  of  them  personated  the  Cardinal 
and  wore  his  robes  at  the  Vesper  service  ;  a  supper 
followed  in  the  evening,  to  Avhich  all  the  old  scholars 
were  invited,  and  the  fete  was  carried  on  the  next  day 
with  speeches,  recitations,  distributions  of  sugar- 
plums, and  so  forth. 

Outside  tlie  walls,  a  little  east  of  the  spot  Avhere 
the  present  Rue  Clovis  opens  into  the  Rue  du  Car- 
dinal Lemoine,  David,  Bishop  of  Murray  in  Scot- 
land, founded  a  college  in  the  fourteenth  century  for 
students  of  his  own  country.  On  the  south-west,  the 
site  of  a  part  of  the  present  Ecole  Polytechnique, 
was  the  wealthy  College  de  Navarre,  whose  origins 
were  described  in  the  last  chapter.  In  1354  the 
University  deposited  its  treasure  and  archives  there, 
lately  removed  from  the  Abbey  of  Ste.  Genevieve. 

During  the  English  wars  this  college  was  rifled, 
and  its  masters  and  scholars  dispersed.  Charles  VII. 
and  his  successors  rebuilt  it. 

As  the  College  de  Constantinople,  probably  insti- 
tuted for   the   benefit   of  poor  natives   of  Asia  and 


PARIS  OF  THE  LATER  MIDDLE  AGES.        253 

Greece  come  to  Paris  in  search  of  a  Christian  edu- 
cation, had  but  one  scholar  in  1362,  it  was  ceded  to 
Jean  de  la  Marche  and  his  nephew,  who  repaired  the 
buildings  and  founded  the  establishment  which  hence- 
forth Avent  by  their  name. 

The  Order  of  the  Carmelites,  which  Ave  last  saw  es- 
tablished in  tAA^o  modest  houses  on  the  Rue  Montague 
Ste.  Genevie\'e,  built  in  the  middle  of  the  fourteenth 
century,  through  the  liberality  of  the  AvidoAv  of 
Charles  le  Bel,  a  great  church  and  cloister.  The 
Queen  gave  for  this  purpose  not  only  a  large  sum  of 
money,  but  her  "  croAA^i,  the  fleur-de-lis  she  Avore 
when  she  AA-as  married,  her  girdle,  her  jewels — pearls, 
diamonds,  and  other  precious  stones."  With  this  we 
will  close  our  notice  of  some  of  the  colleges  of  this 
period. 

We  have  seen  in  the  last  chapter  how  a  Seigneur 
de  Nesle  had  built  himself  a  palace  on  the  left  river- 
bank  adjoining  the  Abbey  of  Saint  Germain,  and  close 
to  the  great  tOAver  of  Philip  Hamelin  (soon  called  by 
his  name),  and  Iioaa^  it  subsequently  became  the  prop- 
erty of  Philippe  le  Bel. 

King  John  made  the  Hotel  de  Nesle  his  residence 
for  a  time,  and  it  Avas  there  that  Raoul,  Count  of  Eii 
and  of  Guines,  and  Constable  of  France,  Avas  be- 
headed by  his  orders.  In  1380  it  passed  into  the 
hands  of  the  Duke  de  Berri,  uncle  of  Charles  VI., 
who  transformed  it  into  a  magiiiHccnt  palace,  and 
added  a  number  of  acres  of  land  lying  outside  the 


254  PAEIS. 

city  walls,  for  the  stables  and  other  out-buildings. 
This  enclosure  was  called  the  Sejour  de  Nesle.  It 
was  probably  at  the  same  time  that  a  stone  bridge 
replaced  the  wooden  one  thrown  across  the  moat  be- 
longing to  the  wall  of  Philip-Augustus,  and  that  the 
great  stone  gateway  was  built  close  to  the  tower  that 
went  by  the  name  of  Porte  de  Nesle.  The  Sejour  of 
Nesle  was  destroyed  by  the  Cabochiens  in  1411.  In 
1422,  the  year  of  her  husband's  death,  we  find  Isa- 
bella of  Bavaria  holding  her  court  in  the  Hotel  de 
Nesle,  and  giving  fetes  in  honor  of  the  King  of  Eng- 
land in  his  character  of  heir  to  the  throne  of  France, 
and  all  the  Avorld  knows  Villon's  rhyme.  There  re- 
mains nothing  more  to  chronicle  of  the  southern 
bank  save  that  the  Fair  of  St.  Germain  des  Pres  was 
established  in  the  latter  part  of  the  fifteenth  century, 
by  the  brothers  of  the  order,  who  erected  a  hundred 
and  forty  stalls  or  booths  on  a  part  of  the  grounds  of 
the  Hotel  de  Nesle  ;  and  the  building  of  the  Pont 
Saint  Michel  by  Charles  V.  between  the  years  1378 
and  1387. 

The  point  at  which  we  leave  Paris  with  the  close 
of  this  chapter  is  the  end  of  the  Middle  Ages.  The 
idea  which  precedes  the  thing  is  stirring  in  her,  some 
artists  are  thinking  in  the  terms  of  antiquity  ;  already 
they  knew  that  in  Italy  the  colonnades  were  rising 
and  the  domes  were  multiplying  from  the  unique  ex- 
ample at  Florence.  But  Paris,  whose  mind  was 
changing,   yet   kept    her    form.       Had    you    passed 


PARIS  OF  THE  LATER  MIDDLE  AGES.        255 

through  Paris  on  the  night  when  the  "  father  of  the 
people  was  dead "  you  would  have  had  everywhere 
about  you  the  narrow  mystery  of  Gothic  streets. 
The  houses  overhanging  and  timbered  would  have 
hidden  the  sky,  and  that  spirit  in  which  Europe  had 
attempted  to  reach  heaven  would  still  be  with  you 
mournfully  in  its  decay.  You  would  have  seen  spires 
beyond  the  roof,  and  here  and  there  the  despairing 
beauty  of  the  Flamboyant  at  its  last  effort,  the  jut- 
ting carved  windows  of  the  rich,  or  the  special  addi- 
tions of  porches  at  St.  Jacques  or  at  the  Auxerrois. 

But  even  if  you  had  been  in  that  midnight  ram- 
ble, of  the  popidace;  had  Italy  been  unknown  to  you, 
and  for  you  the  new  classics  undiscovered ;  had  the 
new  discontent  and  fantastic  hopes  of  Europe  been 
with  you  nothing  but  a  sidlen  irritation  against  the 
priests  and  monks,  even  then  you  woidd  have  felt 
that  the  Paris  around  you  belonged  to  a  past ;  that 
it  was  out  of  place,  in  danger  of  possessing  relics, 
and  in  the  light  of  day  your  eyes  would  have  wel- 
comed change.  It  was  this  spirit  in  all  the  people 
that  permitted  the  Renaissance  to  work  its  century  of 
change  all  over  Europe;  the  beautiful  mystery  which 
had  fed  the  soul  of  the  west  for  three  hundred  years 
had  lost  its  meaning,  and  empty  symbols  disturbed 
the  curiosity  of  the  young  century. 

It  is  for  this  reason  that  all  men  who  have  Avell 
described  the  end  of  the  Paris  of  St.  Louis  have 
made   their    descriptions   fall   in    with   the   spirit    of 


256  PARIS. 

night.  Victor  Hugo  shows  you  Paris  moonlit  in  the 
snow  from  the  towers  of  Notre  Dame  ;  its  little  wind- 
ing streets  like  streams  of  black  water  in  breaking 
ice,  its  infinite  variety  of  ornament  catching  the 
flakes  that  had  fallen.  Stevenson  shows  you  Paris 
moonlit  in  the  snow  from  the  point  of  view  of  poor 
Villon  wandering  after  the  murder,  and  afraid  of 
wolves  and  of  the  power  of  the  King. 

The  whole  spirit  is  that  of  the  night.  But  the 
armies  are  going  into  Italy,  we  are  to  have  Bayard 
and  Francis,  a  Medici  will  rule  in  Paris,  and  the  long 
troubling  dawn  of  quite  a  new  day  is  coming  upon 
the  city.  The  Keformation,  the  period  of  the  buc- 
caneers, the  stories  of  western  treasure,  the  sixteenth 
century,  which  Voltaire  has  so  admirably  called  "  a 
robber  clothed  in  crimson  and  in  cloth  of  gold." 


THE  MEDICEAN  PERIOD.  257 

CHAPTER    VI. 

THE   MEDICEAN   PERIOD. 

The  sixteenth  century  is,  all  over  Europe,  the  con- 
flict between  two  principles  that  cross  and  intermix, 
have  a  hundred  ramifications  and  reactions,  but  re- 
main, if  one  goes  to  the  origins  of  the  discussion, 
distinct  and  opposite.  They  are  the  international 
principle  and  the  principle  of  local  autonomy.  Why 
had  they  come  into  conflict  just  at  this  epoch  ? 
Mainly  because,  after  centuries  of  development,  the 
European  nations  had  now  finally  difl'erentiated  and 
recognized  themselves.  The  Middle  Ages  were  cos- 
mopolitan— all  their  theory  and  their  every  institu- 
tion. A  thousand  dialects  had  one  common  tongue, 
Latin.  A  hundred  thousand  villages  had  their  com- 
mon link  of  feudalism,  a  hierarchy  leading  (in  theory 
at  least)  to  a  common  head,  the  empire.  The  symbol 
and  centre  of  this  unity  was  Rome. 

But  three  hundred  years  had  brought  about  the 
nationalities.  Which  of  the  two  forces  is  about  to 
win  the  battle  ?  Neither,  luckily  for  Europe.  They 
are  to  fight  fiercely  for  a  hundred  years  and  to  calum- 
niate each  other  without  mercy.  They  are  to  take 
religions,  later  social  diff"erences,  as  their  banners;  but 
in  the  end  the  centrifugal  and  the  centripetal  forces 
balanced  each  other,  and  (to  borrow  a  metaphor  from 

17 


258  PARIS. 

astronomy)  no  nation  "  fell  into  the  sun,"  nor  did 
any  "  fly  off  into  space  ;"  their  intense  forces  of  at- 
traction and  repulsion  resulted  in  a  rapid  movement, 
but  a  movement  of  rotation,  a  closed  orbit,  and  civil- 
ization (thanks  to  that  result)  remains  to-day  a  "  sys- 
tem "  and  not  an  anarchy  of  infinitely  distant  parts. 
In  the  quarrel  England  and  Italy  suffered  most. 
England,  for  more  than  a  hundred  years  a  definite 
nation,  possessing  an  intense  local  patriotism,  well- 
to-do,  content,  and  lying  to  the  outer  side  of  Europe, 
flew  out  with  violence.  She  yet  remains  the  Nep- 
tune of  Europe,  and  seeks  some  of  her  light  from 
the  outer  parts  of  the  world.  The  Reformation 
(which  was  the  one  great  effect  of  the  intense  national 
feeling)  takes  her  with  power,  as  it  does,  in  a  differ- 
ent manner,  the  principalities  of  North  Germany;  she 
gathers  herself  into  herself,  and,  like  the  outer  planets, 
establishes  a  certain  microsmic  system  of  her  own. 
Italy,  divided  in  a  hundred  ways,  the  latest  of  all  the 
nationalities  to  confirm  her  unity,  hardly  knowing 
any  bond  between  her  various  divisions  save  the  feel- 
ing that  the  rest  of  Europe  were  "  the  barbarians" — 
Italy,  again,  the  seat  of  the  papacy  and  the  province 
of  Rome  the  old  Sun,  becomes  the  type  and  rallying- 
point  of  the  centripetal  force.  Thus  the  desire  for 
national  churches  and  national  isolation  expresses 
itself  for  two  hundred  years  by  an  imitation  of  the 
English  experiment,  the  desire  for  an  international 
system — the  imperial  memories  of  Europe — fall  back 


THE  MEDICEAN  PERIOD.  259 

upon   something   equally    vigorous,    equally   new  ;  I 
mean  the  Italian  Renaissance. 

France  Avas,  as  she  always  is,  the  battle-field  of 
either  party.  She  grew  to  be  a  nation  most  intensely 
individual,  and  yet  one  most  intensely  determined  to 
rely  upon  the  cosmopolitan  method.  For  three  cen- 
turies she  has  kept  this  double  character ;  the  revo- 
lution which  she  personifies,  with  its  basis  of  furious 
patriotism  and  its  purely  abstract  conceptions,  is  an 
example. 

France  learnt  the  Renaissance  through  the  Italian 
wars,  she  finally  brought  to  Paris  an  Italian  queen, 
and  in  that  one  character  of  Catherine  de  Medicis 
you  may  see  summed  up  the  Roman  influence  upon 
France  during  the  great  struggle  of  the  religious 
wars.  Paris  on  her  material  side  (like  France  in  the 
moral  order)  divided  the  new  forces.  Paris,  north- 
ern and  local  as  she  was  yet,  gave  in  the  St.  Barthol- 
omew the  most  signal  example  of  a  passionate — an 
almost  delirious — determination  to  maintain  unity. 
But  it  was  a  passion  and  a  delirium  closely  connected 
with  the  opposite  desire,  I  mean  with  sentiment  of 
national  integrity.  It  Avas  not  only  the  Protestant, 
it  was  also  the  Southerner  and  the  noble  who  were 
massacred  in  that  moment  of  madness. 

Paris  saw  the  Italian  architecture  of  the  Louvre, 
she  also  (almost  alone  of  the  great  cities  of  Europe) 
made  a  desperate  effort  to  continue  the  Gothic. 
Catherine  de  Medicis  built  her  Tuileries — but  from 


260  PARIS. 

their  cupolas  you  ■would  have  seen  a  forest  of  spires. 
The  Renaissance  worked  hardly  in  Paris,  and  pierced 
through  a  highly  resisting  medium. 

What  we  are  about  to  follow  then,  in  this  chapter, 
is  a  struggle  which  descends  to  the  very  houses  and 
streets  themselves,  a  struggle  between  Paris  Catholic 
and  Paris  skeptical,  a  warfare  betAveen  that  part  of 
her  which  was  (and  remains)  intensely  conservative, 
with  that  part  Avhich  looks  to  the  south  and  accepts 
new  things.  The  whole  summed  up  in  a  persistent 
desire  to  remain  the  head  and  the  rallying  centre  of 
the  French  nation. 

Such  is  the  character  of  this  confused  and  critical 
time.  A  time  whose  reUgious  aspect  is  only  the  most 
important  out  of  very  many,  and  whose  troubling 
effect  upon  the  city  we  shall  trace  in  the  confused 
mixture  of  the  pointed  arch  and  of  the  colonnade,  of 
the  flamboyant  and  the  Italian  fagade.  The  streets 
alternate  between  the  narrow  winding  lane  of  the 
Boucherie  and  the  great  Italian  plaza  of  the  Car- 
rousel. The  uncertain  destinies  of  Paris  fluctuate 
at  the  same  time  between  the  new  and  the  old,  and 
the  whole  period  is  one  of  an  unsettled  quarrel,  re- 
flected in  the  architecture  and  in  the  plan  of  the  town. 
Let  us  first  consider  its  eff'ect  upon  the  Hotel  de  Ville. 

Mention  has  been  made  in  the  last  chapter  of  the 
great  banquet  held  there  on  the  26th  of  November, 
1514,  in  honor  of  the  new  Queen  Mary  of  England. 
Two  of  the  guests    were  Louise  of  Savoy  and  her 


THE  MEDICEAN  PEEIOD.  261 

son,  the  young  Duke  of  Valois,  son-in-law  of  the 
King.  It  was  the  last  event  of  the  reign  in  con- 
nection Avith  the  Hotel.  In  January  Louis  XII. 
died,  and  on  the  15th  of  February  Francis  I.  made 
his  state  entry  into  Paris.  A  few  days  later  the 
city  presented  its  customary  "  gift "  to  the  new 
King,  who  in  this  instance  had  indicated  very  plainly 
just  what  form  it  was  to  take  "  le  roi  I'avait  pie9a, 
advise,  et  ordonne  lui-meme,"  and  had,  moreover, 
asked  for  a  very  handsome  addition  in  the  way  of 
plate  for  his  mother.  In  return  for  these  tokens  of 
esteem  from  his  "  bons  bourgeois  "  the  King  issued 
letters  confirming  the  Prevot  des  Marchands  and 
"  Sheriffs  "  of  Paris  in  their  jurisdiction  over  the  com- 
merce of  the  Seine,  and  in  their  right  to  render  de- 
cisions ;  he  also  gave  them  permission  to  establish  a 
prison  in  the  Hotel-de-Ville,  as  they  complained  of 
the  inconvenience  of  having  to  send  persons  arrested 
within  their  jurisdiction  to  the  prisons  of  the  Con- 
ciergerie,  "  qui  sont  grands  frais." 

During  the  first  fourteen  years  of  this  reign  the 
Hotel-de-ViUe  is  alluded  to  constantly  in  connection 
with  the  King's  incessant  demands  for  money,  which, 
as  in  contemporary  England,  was  necessary  to  the 
government  of  a  rapidly-developing  society.  Again 
and  again  are  the  officers  of  the  municipal  body  sum- 
moned to  discuss  there  the  granting  of  a  fresh  sub- 
sidy ;  now  for  the  entertainment  of  some  royal  guest, 
now  for  the  King's  personal  expenditures,  now  for  the 


202  PARIS. 

cjueen-mother,  and  especially  for  the  army.  These 
(hTihoratioiis  always  emled  in  the  same  way.  The 
King  got  what  hf  wanted.  It  was  probably  in  the 
reign  of  Louis  XI.  that  the  Parloir  an  Bourgeois, 
aft*  r  being  transferred  fn>m  its  old  (juarters  on  the 
left  bank  and  established  for  a  tim*- near  the  ('hat<'let, 
had  finally  join«'«I  the  other  municipal  body  of  Paris 
in  the  Hotel-de-\'ille,  a  circumstance  that  no  doubt 
made  the  alttrations  of  1470  a  matter  i»f  urgent  ne- 
cessity. \\\  ir>*JJ>  the  ancient  Maison  aux  I'iliirs 
had,  however,  not  only  fallen  utmost  into  ruin,  but 
was  again  far  t<»o  small  for  its  various  functions.  (  hi 
tlic  I. '{til  of  |)ecember,  ncconlingly,  tin-  magistrates 
a>k  till-  King  to  i.ssue  "letters  of  ex|)ropriation."  af- 
fntiiig  a  numbt'r  of  the  adjoining  housrs.  In  the 
following  year  eleven  of  these  are  pidled  down,  and 
in  153.'^  letters-patent  authorize  the  seizure  of  the 
"saillyi'  lb'  rKgli>e  du  St.  Hsprit."  which  interfered 
with  the  plans  for  the  jiew  fa<;ade.  This  fa<;a«le  was  to 
terminate  on  the  south  or  right  in  a  s«piarc  j)avilion 
one  story  higher  than  tin*  main  building,  and  span- 
ning the  Hue  du  Martroy  by  an  arch  so  as  to  leave  a 
free  passage  through  to  St.  .lean.  A  similar  pavilion 
and  archway  on  the  h-ft  or  north  siile  was  to  give 
access  to  the  chajtel  of  St.  Ksprit.  This  plan  was 
tlie  basis  of  that  picturesque  seventeenth-century 
front  which  is  so  famili.ir  to  the  student. 

As  the  King  an<l  (^ueen  were  in  the   south  ou  that 
journey  which  rcsidted   in  ;i  meeting  with   the   Pope 


THE  MEDICEAN  PERIOD.  263 

at  Marseilles  and  the  marriage  of  the  future  King 
Henry  II,  and  Catherine  de  Medecis — and  since 
Louise  of  Savoy  was  dead — the  Provost  and  Sheriffs 
laid  the  corner-stone  themselves  on  July  15,  1533, 
to  the  sound  of  fifes  and  drums,  the  blowing  of 
trumpets,  the  booming  of  cannon,  and  the  ringing 
of  church-bells.  On  the  Greve,  tables  were  spread 
for  all  who  chose  to  come,  while  the  crowd  kept  up  a 
continual  shout  of  "  Vive  le  roy  et  Messieurs  de  la 
Ville,"  When  the  main  entrance  was  finished  a 
golden  inscription  was  placed  over  it  in  which,  with 
the  "true  sixteenth-century  spirit,  the  spirit  that  made 
the  Tudors,  the  King  figures  as  the  principal  person- 
age, while  the  city  only  appears  in  the  light  of  carry- 
ing out  the  royal  commands.  The  architect's  name 
is  also  given,  Dominico  Cortona,  an  Italian,  Avho  was 
probably  brought  to  Paris  by  the  King  on  his  return 
from  Italy. 

For  the  first  two  years  the  work  advanced  very 
rapidly,  but  in  1535  it  had  to  be  suspended  on  ac- 
count of  the  fresh  breaking  out  of  war,  when  the  city 
was  obliged  to  spend  enormous  sums  on  the  defences. 
As  soon,  however,  as  peace  was  declared  Francis 
urged  its  completion,  Cortona's  beautiful  court-yard 
was  accordingly  so  far  advanced  in  15-40  that  the 
master-carpenter  and  his  workmen  were  able  to  roof 
it  in.  After  this,  however,  the  matter  dragged, 
Francis  died  in  1547,  and  although  Henry  II.  tried 
to  push  the  building  forward,  in  order  to  make  him- 


264  PAKIS. 

self  popular  with  the  Parisians,  Dominico  Cortona's 
death,  two  years  later,  acted  as  a  serious  check  ;  his 
plans  were  unfortunately  never  carried  out.  A 
"Grand  Salle"  was  designed,  to  occvipy  a  part  of  the 
ancient  building  which  was  still  standing  on  the  Place 
de  la  Greve,  and  finished  in  time  for  "Messieurs  de  la 
Ville  "  to  entertain  the  King  there  at  supper  on  Shrove 
Tuesday,  1558,  to  celebrate  the  taking  of  Calais  by 
M.  de  Guise.  Everything  went  wrong  on  this  occa- 
sion. It  rained  in  torrents,  so  that  the  King  had  to  go 
in  a  coach.  The  artillery  stationed  on  the  Place  de 
Greve  frightened  the  horses,  and  the  King  was  nearly 
thrown  in  alighting.  And  the  crowd  was  so  great 
that  the  supper  was  a  scene  of  fearful  confusion,  and 
many  persons  grumbled  because  they  could  get  noth- 
ing to  drink.  After  supper  there  Avas  to  be  a  dra- 
matic entertainment  gotten  up  by  the  poet  Jodelle, 
who  has  himself  left  a  most  amusing  account  of  it. 

In  allusion  to  the  arms  of  the  city  he  selected  Ja- 
son's ship  as  his  subject,  and  the  performance,  for 
which  no  trouble  or  expense  had  been  spared,  took 
place  after  supper  in  the  Grand  Salle,  but  can  hardly 
be  called  a  success.  Of  the  twelve  actors,  the  author 
tells  us  in  the  account  of  what  he  calls  "  My  Disas- 
ter," half  did  not  know  their  parts,  and  the  remainder 
were  so  hoarse  that  they  could  hardly  speak.  At 
last  Orpheus  appeared,  "  playing  and  singing  a  little 
song  in  praise  of  the  King,"  which  music  was  to  draw 
two  rocks  {rochers)  after  him  with  music  issuing  from 


THE  MEDICEAN  PERIOD.  265 

them ;  but  unfortunately  the  mechanic  employed  was 
not  up  in  classic  literature,  and  thought  two  steeples 
(clochers)  had  been  ordered.  Jodelle,  who  took  the 
part  of  Jason,  was  on  the  stage  when  these  came 
gliding  in,  and  was  so  overpowered  at  the  sight  that 
he  completely  lost  his  head  and  forgot  his  part. 

The  Queen,  Catherine,  was  present  at  this  unfor- 
tunate performance.  We  find  her  in  the  Grand 
Salle  later,  on  a  very  different  errand :  coming,  that 
is,  to  ask  for  money  to  put  ten  thousand  men  in  the 
field,  needed  by  her  son  Charles  to  fight  the  Hugue- 
nots. The  municipal  body  asked  the  Queen  to 
withdraw  to  a  small  room  near  by,  which  had  been 
prepared  for  her.  Here  she  Avaited  while  the  ques- 
tion was  discussed  for  over  an  hour.  It  ended,  how- 
ever, like  many  similar  requests  that  followed,  in  her 
getting  what  she  came  for. 

The  demands  upon  the  city  treasury  grew  more 
and  more  exorbitant,  and  the  city  got  deeper  and 
deeper  into  debt.  The  municipal  body  at  last  re- 
fused to  give  any  more  money,  it  Avas  a  question  of 
bankruptcy,  whereupon  the  King — it  was  Henry  HI. 
— took  what  he  wanted,  and  some  years  later  the 
bankruptcy  actually  came. 

During  the  stormy  period  of  Henry  HI.  and  the 
League  there  was  little  leisure  to  devote  to  building, 
and  the  H6tel-de-Ville  was  left  in  the  half-finished 
state  it  had  reached  under  Henry  II,  The  main 
front  facing  the  Place  de  Greve  was  but  two  stories 


266  PARIS. 

high,  and  the  Pavilion  designed  to  surmount  the 
arched  approach  to  the  Hospital  of  St.  Esprit  con- 
sisted only  of  a  pointed  gable,  contrasting  oddly  with 
the  lofty  erection  crowned  with  fleur-de-lis  and  cres- 
cents above  the  entrance  to  St.  Jean,  which  it  was 
supposed  to  balance. 

Under  Charles  IX.  an  improvement  was  effected 
in  the  condition  of  the  Place  de  Greve  itself,  which 
had  come  to  be  little  better  than  a  huge  sewer.  It 
was  now  paved  and  an  attempt  was  made  to  clean  it ; 
also  an  order  was  issued  forbidding  all  persons  to  de- 
posit anything  there,  or  otherwise  encumber  the  open 
space  before  the  H6tel-de-Ville,  so  that  the  public 
executions,  which  still  continued  to  be  held  there, 
might  not  be  interfered  with.  The  space  kept  clear 
for  this  purpose  also  saw  the  burning  in  effigy  of  Ad- 
miral* de  Coligny  after  the  Huguenot  massacre. 

The  filthy  condition  of  the  Place  de  Greve  Avas  not 
exceptional,  as  we  shall  see  if  we  accompany  M.  Al- 
fred Bonnardot  on  a  Avalk  through  the  neighborhood 
of  the  Chatelet  in  the  year  1570. 

It  is  ten  o'clock  at  night.  The  sentinel  has  taken 
up  his  position  on  the  watch-tower,  the  curfew  has 
sounded,  and  the  Avorthy  merchants  and  boui'geois 
are  snoring  peacefully  beneath  their  gabled  roofs. 
Everything  is  perfectly  still,  but  it  is  not  altogether 
dark,  for  at  this  time  forty  pounds  are  appropriated 
annually  "  pour  chandelles  posees  au  tour  du  Chas- 
telet." 


THE  MEDICEAN  PEEIOD.  267 

On  our  left  a  strong  smell  of  meat — not  always  as 
fresh  as  one  might  wish — issues  from  the  wooden 
gratings  of  the  Grande  Boucherie.  We  may  as  well 
accustom  ourselves  to  the  smell,  however,  as  we  shall 
have  to  stand  many  worse  ones.  Now  we  are  be- 
neath the  archway,  and  the  regular  tramp  of  feet 
falls  on  our  ears.  It  is  a  division  of  the  Giiet  Civilj 
the  city  watch  composed  of  bourgeois  and  trades- 
people, who,  notwithstanding  their  name,  Assis  or 
Dormant,  are  marching  about  armed  with  halberds 
and  arquebuses,  and  very  much  on  the  alert  to  pre- 
vent prisoners  from  escaping.  In  the  court-yard  of 
the  Chatelet  two  sergeants  of  the  Royal  Watch  act  as 
sentinels  for  the  same  purpose.  In  the  dungeons  of 
that  strong  group  of  pointed  towers  are  confined  rich 
and  poor,  innocent  and  guilty,  some  still  racked  with 
pain  from  the  torture  they  have  undergone,  others 
half  dead  from  want  of  air,  food,  warmth,  all  wretched 
and  hopeless.  Issuing  from  this  lugubrious  spot  we 
find  ourselves  in  the  Rue  St.  Leufroi.  Overhead  a 
niche  contains  a  stone  statue  of  the  Virgin.  On  our 
left  we  come  presently  to  the  building  belonging  to 
the  city  called  the  Parlouer  aux  Bourgeois.  Either 
this  house  or  the  one  next  to  it  had  for  a  sign  in  1590 
the  legend  la  Tete  Noire.  Beyond  it  we  come  to  a 
high  stone  gable  flanked  on  either  side  by  a  small 
turret  and  a  little  Gothic  door-way,  surmounting  a 
pointed  window ;  this  is  the  facade  of  St.  Leufroi.  We 
will  not  linger  ;  close  by  is  the  open  mouth  of  a  sewer. 


268  PAEIS. 

a  ditch  in  fact,  where  every  sort  of  refuse  is  depos- 
ited. Another  fruitful  source  of  infection  exists  behind 
the  street  that  runs  along  the  end  of  the  cliurch.  Here 
are  a  number  of  tortuous  alley-ways  where  animals 
are  killed  in  the  open  air ;  their  blood  trickles  slowly 
through  a  gutter  into  the  Seine,  that  which  fails  to 
flow  off  being  allowed  to  stagnate  and  exhale  the  most 
fearful  odors,  for  the  benefit  not  only  of  the  prisoners 
close  by,  but  of  the  innocent  shop-keepers  who  have 
to  live  in  the  neighborhood.    This  is  "  la  Boucherie." 

From  the  river  comes  the  sound  of  the  water  as  it 
rushes  through  the  paddle-wheels  of  a  dozen  or  more 
mills  ;  before  us  is  a  wooden  bridge,  now  forbidden  to 
the  public,  the  Pont  aux  Meuniers.  On  the  Place 
Vallee  de  Misere  is  the  poultry-market,  and  here  the 
spits  whiz  around  unceasingly  in  the  cook-shops  es- 
tablished against  the  embankment  of  the  quay.  The 
Rue  Pierre  a  Poisson  opens  out  from  the  Place  de  la 
Vallee  de  Misere  and  skirts  the  Chatelet  on  the  west. 
Here  a  series  of  stone  slabs,  fastened  against  the 
prison  wall,  and  forming  one  long  table,  will  be  loaded 
at  daybreak  with  all  manner  of  fish,  the  sale  of  which 
is  one  of  the  privileges  of  the  powerful  corpo- 
ration of  Butchers. 

Suddenly  a  light  shines  out  from  the  court-yard  of 
the  Chatelet.  We  walk  around  to  I'Apport-Paris, 
in  time  to  see  a  mournful  little  procession  issue  from 
the  archway  and  proceed  silently  up  the  Rue  St. 
Denis.     At  its  head  walks  a  man  carrying  a  smok- 


THE  MEDICEAN  PERIOD.  269 

ing  torch,  and  behind  him  come  six  others,  two  and 
two,  bearing  litters  on  which  are  extended  three 
bodies  found  in  the  Seine,  which,  after  having  been 
exposed  for  several  days  in  the  lower  gaol,  are  still 
unclaimed.  They  are  taking  them  to  the  sisters  of 
Ste.  Catherine,  who,  after  bathing  and  shrouding 
them,  will  have  them  decently  bui'ied  in  the  Cemetery 
of  the  Innocents,  with  which  depressing  sight  our  ex- 
cursion ends.  The  only  change  made  in  the  outward 
appearance  of  the  Chatelet  during  this  period  was  the 
addition  of  some  sculptures  executed  in  the  style  of 
the  Renaissance  under  Louis  XII.  There  is  one  monu- 
ment in  this  quarter  which  will  particularly  attract  our 
attention  in  modern  Paris.  It  is  the  "  Tour  St. 
Jacques."  That  tower,  standing  in  the  modern  square, 
is  all  that  remains  of  the  Church  of  St.  Jacques-de-la- 
Boucherie.  The  first  building  dated  from  the  twelfth 
century,  when  it  belonged  to  the  Church  of  St.  Mar- 
tin. At  first  it  was  known  merely  as  St.  Jacques, 
the  surname,  de-la-Boucherie,  being  added  either  on 
account  of  the  proximity  of  the  meat-market,  or  be- 
cause almost  all  the  surrounding  houses  were  occupied 
by  butchers.  The  church,  which  lasted  (though  in 
decay)  to  our  own  time,  was  a  late  fifteenth-century 
bit  of  flamboyant,  and  the  tower  was  only  completed 
in  the  reign  of  Francis  I. 

To  turn  to  the  Louvre.  It  was  after  his  return 
from  Madrid  that  Francis  I.  began  to  lay  those  plans 
for  the  transformation  of  Paris  which  his  successors 


270  PARIS. 

more  than  he  were  destined  to  carry  out.  His  de- 
feat and  captivity  had  for  a  time  at  least  dampened 
his  desire  for  warfare,  and  he  turned  eagerly  to  the 
arts,  for  which  he  had  always  had  a  strong  taste,  as 
a  means  of  distraction  and  amusement. 

At  Chenonceau,  at  Chambord,  and  later  at  Fontaine- 
bleau  and  in  the  Bois  de  Boulogne,  he  busied  himself 
in  that  work  of  chateau  building  which  had  replaced 
the  tower  and  fortress  activity  of  an  earlier  period. 

After  the  defection  of  the  Constable  de  Bourbon, 
Francis  had  taken  possession  of  his  Palace,  which 
stood  very  close  to  the  Louvre  on  the  east,  branding 
it  with  the  marks  of  treason.  A  century  later  the 
doorway  and  threshold  still  bore  traces  of  the  yellow 
paint  which  indicated  the  dwelling  of  a  traitor.  It 
may  have  been  the  King's  intention  to  incorporate 
this  Hotel  into  the  Louvre,  for  the  act  of  confiscation 
is  dated  in  the  same  year  as  the  document  which 
speaks  of  the  rebuilding  on  a  larger  scale  of  the 
Louvre ;  if  such  was  his  idea  it  was  not  carried  out, 
and  the  principal  work  actually  accomplished  there 
under  Francis  I.  seems  to  have  been  the  destruction 
of  the  Great  Tower,  which  took  five  months  to  pull 
down.  A  tradition  long  current  among  the  people 
said  that  the  great  hole  left  where  its  foundations  had 
stood  would  never  be  filled  up  ;  and,  in  truth,  for 
nearly  two  hundred  years  it  was  not.  The  earth 
dumped  there  had  a  way  of  sinking,  and  little  streams 
of  water   constantly   undermined   the    work   accom 


THE  MEDICEAN  PERIOD.  271 

plished.  (The  difficulty  was  finally  overcome  in  the 
beginning  of  the  present  century.)  When  the  court- 
yard had  been  thus  disencumbered  of  the  great  mass 
of  masonry  which  had  darkened  the  surrounding 
apartments  and  overweighted  the  whole  building  for 
so  long,  the  King  established  himself  there  at  once, 
without  waiting  to  do  more  than  repair  some  of  the  out- 
buildings on  the  side  of  St.  Nicholas  and  St.  Thomas, 
kitchens,  stables,  and  so  forth.  Though  the  compre- 
hensive plans  referred  to  in  the  document  mentioned 
above  were  not  completed  in  his  lifetime,  a  beginning 
was  made  in  August  1546,  when  Pierre  Lescot  was 
engaged  to  convert  the  Grand  Salle  in  the  Avest  wing 
from  the  Gothic  to  the  prevailing  style  of  architec- 
ture, an  imitation  of  the  antique.  Eight  months 
later  Francis  died,  without  seeing  even  this  part  com- 
pleted. His  successor  at  once  confirmed  Lescot's  ap- 
pointment, and  throughout  the  whole  of  his  troubled 
reign  continued  to  push  the  work  on  the  Louvre. 
Pierre  Lescot  had  not  only  the  genius  to  substitute 
for  a  bald  copy  of  the  antique,  a  style  of  architecture 
that  was  really  new,  but  he  had  the  sense  and  judg- 
ment to  turn  to  account  a  part  of  the  original  build- 
ing instead  of  blindly  demolishing  all  that  stood  in 
his  Avay.  It  is  to  him  that  we  undoubtedly  owe  the 
preservation  of  that  portion  of  the  fortress  of  Philip- 
Augustus  alluded  to  in  a  previous  chapter.* 

*  See  page  142. 


272  PARIS. 

By  1550  this  hall  was  far  enough  advanced  fur  the 
decorations  to  be  begun.     Jean  Goujon  was  accord- 
ingly instructed  to  carve   the   four  caryatides  from 
which  it  is  still  called.      The   western  and  northern 
wings  were  already  spoken   of  as  the  "  old  Louvre." 
In  Henry  11. 's  time  Lescot  had  transferred  the  chapel 
from  thence  to  the  south  wing.    Its  site,  distinguished 
from  the  rest  of  the  great  hall  into  which  it  had  been 
merged     by  being   on   a   slightly   higher  level,  was 
called  "  the  tribunal,"  as  it  was  there  that  Henry  II. 
heard  pleadings.      The  tribunal,  too,  was  moved  to 
the  south  wing  in  time,  and  placed  at  the  end  of  the 
Salle  des  Cariatides,  with  a  door  of  its  own  opening 
on  to  the  court.     This  door  is  still  surmounted  with 
a  bull's-eye   and   some   sculptures   of  Jean  Goujon. 
The  first  work  undertaken  by  him   seems  to  have 
been  the  exterior  decorations  of  the  west  wing,  those 
seen   from  the   main    court-yard   especially,  having 
been  carefully  completed.     There  is  no  evidence  that 
Paul  Ponce  took  any  part  in  this  work,  as  is  some- 
times said.     Those  parts  that  Goujon  was  unable  to 
finish  himself,   no   one   else  seems  to   have  had  the 
courage  to  undertake.     For  example,  the  carvings 
of  the  arch  over  the  grand   staircase  remain  still  as 
he  left  them,  merely  blocked  out ;  and  it  was  over 
two  hundred  years  before  the  decorations  of  the  Salle 
des  Cariatides,  which  he  began,  were  taken  up  again. 
In  the  meantime   this  hall,  intended  for  State  recep- 
tions and  royal  functions,  was  devoted  to  the  very 


THE  MEDICEAN  PERIOD.  273 

ordinary  uses  of  a  guard-room,  and  it  Avas  here  that 
on  one  March  morning  in  1583  a  hundred  and  twenty 
royal  pages  who  had  made  fun  of  the  King's  (Henry 
III.)  procession  des  flagellants  were  soundly  whipped 
for  their  impertinence.  Henry  seems  to  have  had  to 
suffer  more  than  once  from  the  irreverent  jests  of  his 
subjects.  In  1576  a  satirical  placard  was  posted  on 
the  very  walls  of  the  Louvre  itself,  in  which  he  Avas 
termed  the  "  Concierge  of  the  Louvre  and  church- 
warden of  St.  Germain  I'Auxerrois." 

It  seems  probable  that  the  "  Salle  haute  "  on  the 
second  floor  of  the  west  wing  (the  present  Salle  la 
Gaze)  was  completed  in  the  reign  of  Henry  II.,  for  it 
was  while  walking  up  and  down  there  some  months 
before  his  death  that  he  saw  from  the  windows  the 
fire  at  the  Abbey  of  Montmartre,  and  sent  a  body  of 
Swiss  guards  to  help  extinguish  it.  At  the  time  of 
the  marriage  of  his  daughter  Claude  to  the  Duke  of 
Lorraine,  however,  the  w^ork  on  the  Louvre  was 
pushed  forward  sufficiently  to  celebrate  it  there. 

All  that  remains  to-day  of  the  "Pavilion  du  Roi" 
with  which  Henry  II.  replaced  the  tower  of  the  south- 
west corner,  is  the  Salle  du  Tibre  on  the  ground-floor 
and  the  Salle  des  Sept  Cheminees  on  the  second  ; 
the  former  was  originally  a  sort  of  antechamber 
opening  into  the  "  Tribunal,"  or  raised  end  of  the  Salle 
des  Gariatides.  Henry  also  used  it  for  a  dining- 
room,  and  sometimes,  as  in  the  case  of  the  Venetian 
ambassador,  Giovanni  Gapello,  who  has  left  an   ac- 

18 


274  PARIS. 

count  of  the  interview,  gave  aiidiences  as  he  sat  at 
table.  On  the  floor  above  were  the  State  chamber 
and  the  King's  bed-chamber,  this  latter  so  dark  that 
Sauval  declares  one  had  to  grope  his  way  there  at 
midday. 

The  wooden  panelings  of  the  State  chamber  of 
Henry  II.  are  still  to  be  seen  in  the  east  wing  of  the 
present  Louvre.  During  the  last  year  of  his  life  the 
King  was  conducting  the  work  on  the  apartments  of 
the  Queen  in  the  south  wing,  those  famous  apart- 
ments where  he  used  invariably  to  present  himself 
for  a  little  while,  after  dinner,  and  where  were  to  be 
seen  that  "  troop  of  human  goddesses  each  one  more 
beautiful  than  the  last,"  whom  Catherine  de  Medicis 
gathered  about  her.  The  furniture  of  this  apart- 
ment was  of  the  most  meagre,  consisting  only  of  a 
couple  of  elevated  seats  surmounted  by  a  dais  for  the 
King  and  Queen  and  a  chest  running  along  the  wain- 
scot, on  which,  however,  only  the  royal  princesses, 
Mme.  Claude  de  Lorraine  and  the  Queen  of  Navarre, 
were  permitted  to  seat  themselves.  Gentlemen  and 
ladies  in  waiting  had  either  to  stand  or  to  sit  on  mats 
spread  on  the  floor. 

On  the  marriage  of  Charles  IX.  with  Elizabeth  of 
Austria,  Catherine,  according  to  custom,  resigned  her 
apartments  to  the  new  Queen,  and  they  were  then 
fitted  out  with  great  magnificence. 

The  principal  doorway  of  the  Louvre  was  on  the 
east  front,  facing  the  Hotel  de  Bourbon.     On  either 


THE  MEDICEAN  PERIOD.  275 

side  of  it  was  a  tennis  court,  one  constructed  by 
Francis  I.,  the  other  by  Henry  11.  Here,  on  August 
21,  1572,  Charles  IX.  was  playing  with  the  Duke  of 
Guise  when  he  received  the  news  of  the  attempted 
assassination  of  Admiral  de  Coligny,  shot  in  the  hand 
while  on  his  way  from  the  Louvre  to  his  lodging  in 
the  Rue  des  Fosses  St.  Germain  I'Auxerrois.  This 
event  was  the  prelude  to  the  Massacre  of  St.  Bar- 
tholomew, three  days  later,  during  which  the  Avretched 
King  remained  closeted  in  his  chamber,  where  were 
brought  to  him  a  list  of  the  slain  and  those  taken 
prisoners.  The  accounts  which  describe  him  as 
shooting  down  with  his  own  hands,  from  a  window, 
some  of  those  who  were  trying  to  escape,  are  without 
historical  proof.  The  bride,  Marguerite,  married  only 
a  week  before  to  Henry  of  Navarre,  has  left  a  most 
vivid  account  of  the  events  of  the  night,  the  23d-24th 
of  August,  from  the  moment  when  her  terrible  mother 
sent  her  to  bed,  knowing  well  enough  the  danger  she 
would  run  of  being  killed  Avith  her  husband's  followers, 
to  her  flight  to  her  sister's  room  in  the  early  morning, 
when  she  fell  almost  fainting  in  her  companion's  arms 
at  the  sight  of  a  Protestant  gentleman  murdered 
within  three  feet  of  her.  In  these  Memoirs  there  is 
also  given  an  account  of  the  escape,  through  her 
efforts,  of  her  brother,  the  Due  d'Alengon,  whom  the 
Queen  Mother  was  keeping  prisoner  in  the  Louvre. 
Marguerite,  with  the  help  of  three  of  her  women  and 
the  youth  who  had  provided  the   rope,  let  the  Duke 


276  PAEIS. 

down  from  the  window  of  her  room  on  the  second 
floor  overlooking  the  moat. 

Charles  IX.  and  his  mother,  who  seem  never  to 
have  felt  quite  safe  from  the  Huguenots,  strength- 
ened the  Louvre  bj  building  a  new  drawbridge  on 
the  north-west  fagade  and  establishing  two  new 
guard-rooms  close  by.  On  the  death  of  the  King, 
and  before  his  successor  could  reach  Paris,  the  Queen 
Mother  not  only  had  all  the  entrances  (except  the 
main  one  on  the  east)  walled  up,  but  she  closed 
both  ends  of  the  Rue  d'Autriche,  already  called 
Rue  du  Louvre.  Charles,  for  his  own  amusement, 
built  a  forge,  where,  according  to  one  writer,  he 
spent  hours  at  a  time  ;  and,  another  means  of  dis- 
traction, a  building  where  the  lions  and  other  wild 
beasts  who  took  part  in  his  dog-fights  were  confined. 

Henry  IH.  kept  up  this  menagerie  and  continued 
the  fights  until  one  night  he  dreamed  that  the  wild 
beasts,  helped  by  his  owm  dogs,  fell  upon  him  and 
tried  to  devour  him.  The  next  day  he  had  them  all 
shot.  The  events  which  this  dream  might  have 
foreshadowed  occurred  some  five  years  later,  when 
the  League  inaugurated  another  massacre.  On  the 
Journee  des  barricades  the  messenger  who  came  to 
warn  the  King  that  his  only  safety  lay  in  flight  mounted 
to  the  royal  chamber  by  that  same  little  flight  of 
stairs  that  we  have  spoken  of  as  still  leading  from  the 
Salle  des  Cariatides  to  the  upper  floor.*     Henry  suc- 

*  See  page  142. 


THE  MEDICEAN  PERIOD.  277 

ceeded  in  reaching  the  stables  in  the  Tuileries  by 
way  of  the  quay  and  the  Porte  Neuve,  and  once  on 
horseback  was  able  to  gain  the  open  country. 

The  Louvre  remained  pretty  much  as  Charles  IX. 
left  it  until  the  reign  of  Henry  IV.  Pierre  Lescot 
died  in  1578,  and  although  Baptiste  Du  Cerceau  was 
appointed  to  succeed  him  and  to  carry  on  the  work  as 
he  had  planned  it,  this  was  not  done  ;  the  northern, 
eastern,  and  a  part  of  the  southern  facades  Avere  the 
same  Gothic  erections  that  Charles  V.  had  built, 
while  the  western  and  west  end  of  the  southern 
wings  were  those  beautiful  creations  on  which  the 
great  reputation  of  Pierre  Lescot  mainly  rests  to  this 
day :  two  stories  whose  spaces  are  broken  up  by 
pilasters,  Corinthian  and  composite  columns,  sur- 
mounted by  an  attic  lavishly  decorated  by  Jean 
Goujon  and  his  pupils. 

Another  piece  of  work  planned  by  Catherine  de 
Medicis,  which  was  allowed  to  languish  during  the 
reigns  of  her  three  sons,  was  the  Grande  Galerie  de- 
signed to  connect  the  Louvre,  the  town  residence, 
with  the  new  palace,  the  ''lieu  de  plaisance,"  she  had 
begun  on  the  west. 

We  have  already  seen  how  the  wall  of  Charles  V. 
had  divided  up  the  grounds  of  the  Quinze-Vingts. 
This  suburb  now  consisted  of  pottery  or  tile-kilns, 
market-gardens  and  brick-kilns,  occasionally  inter- 
spersed with  country  houses.  In  the  beginning  of  the 
sixteenth  century  the  Le  Gendre  family.  Seigneurs  de 


278  PARIS. 

Neufville,  inherited  the  entire  district  lying  between 
the  moat  of  the  city  wall  and  the  establishment  of  the 
Quinze-Vingts.  They  accordingly  built  themselves  a 
villa  on  what  was  rightly  considered  the  most  health- 
ful and  beautiful  spot  in  the  suburbs  of  the  city. 
This  villa  was  at  first  rented  and  then  bought  by 
Francis  I.  for  Louise  of  Savoy,  who  had  found  the 
smells  of  the  city  unendurable  at  the  Palais  des  Tour- 
nelles,  where  she  had  been  living  ;  it  was  thus  that 
the  grounds  of  the  Tuileries  became  the  property  of 
the  Crown. 

In  1564  Catherine  de  Medicis,  tired  of  occupying 
a  simple  suite  of  apartments  in  the  Louvre,  where  no 
doubt  she  was  uncomfortably  crowded,  for  there  were 
no  less  than  four  queens  lodging  there  at  the  time, 
determined  to  have  a  palace  of  her  own.  Several 
properties  adjoining  the  de  Neufville  ViUa  were 
bought,  the  old  constructions  cleared  away,  and  in 
May  the  foundations  of  the  Tuileries  were  laid  by 
De  L'Orme,  wdio  had  been  engaged  to  conduct  the 
work. 

Li  order  to  transport  the  huge  masses  of  stone  re- 
quired by  De  L'Orme's  plans,  from  the  quarries  of 
Vaugirard  and  Notre  Dame  des  Champs,  situated  on 
the  other  side  of  the  river,  to  the  site  of  the  new  palace, 
permission  was  obtained  from  the  brothers  of  the 
Abbey  of  St.  Germain  to  make  a  road  through  their 
domain  (it  still  exists  as  the  Rues  Notre  Dame  des 
Champs  and  du  Bac),  connecting  with  a  ferry  which 


THE  MEDICEAN  PERIOD.  279 

gave  part  of  it  its  name.  The  first  buildings  erected 
by  De  L'Orme  were  the  stables  on  the  north-west. 
These,  together  with  the  pavilion  Avhere  the  head 
groom  was  lodged,  were  finished  in  a  few  years,  and 
the  central  part  of  the  fagade  overlooking  the  garden 
begun.  De  L'Orme's  design  contemplated  something 
elegant  and  charming,  rather  than  imposing  or  ]najes- 
tic.  He  himself  states  that  he  tried  to  lend  a  fem- 
inine character  to  the  palace  which  the  Queen  was 
building  for  her  own  occupation,  and  for  that  reason 
selected  the  Ionic  rather  than  the  Doric  order  as  be- 
ing more  suitable  to  a  woman.  Catherine  herself 
suggested  many  of  the  internal  arrangements,  but  it 
does  not  seem  that  she  did  more,  notwithstanding  De 
L'Orme's  flattering  allusion  to  her  part  in  the  work. 
Owing  to  lack  of  money,  and  to  the  Queen's  increas- 
ing demands  for  ornament  and  elaboration  of  every 
detail,  the  work  progressed  slowly,  and  Avhen  Phili- 
bert  De  L'Orme  died  in  1570  only  the  central  pavil- 
ion on  the  garden  side,  with  its  two  wings,  were 
completed.  He  was  succeeded  by  Jean  Bidlant,  to 
whom  is  attributed  the  paviHon  at  the  end  of  the 
right  wing  of  De  L'Orme's  fayade,  which  formed  a 
continuation  of  the  lower  wing  erected  later. 

Li  May,  1571,  Charles  IX.  issued  an  order  for 
wood  to  be  taken  from  the  forest  of  Neufville  en  Haye 
for  the  roofing  of  the  •'  Pallais  et  Maison  des  Thuil- 
leries,"  and  there  are  descriptions  extant  of  two 
magnificent   fetes  given  there,  one  to  celebrate  the 


280  PAKIS. 

election  of  the  future  King  Henry  III.  as  King  of 
Poland,  in  1573,  and  the  other  on  the  marriage  of 
Marguerite  de  Vaudemont,  Charles'  sister-in-law,  to 
the  Vicomte  de  Joyeuse.  The  admiration  and  Avon- 
der  of  the  people  of  Paris  Avas  not,  however,  the 
palace  buildings,  but  the  garden.*  This  wonderful 
garden,  fifteen  years  in  making,  with  its  six  great 
alleys,  crossed  by  eight  lesser  ones,  and  square  open 
spaces,  "  parquets,"  at  each  intersection,  with  its 
labyrinths,  its  fountain,  and  its  sun  dial,  its  echo  and 
its  marvellous  grotto — the  creation  of  Bernard  Palissy 
and  his  two  relatives,  Nicolas  and  Mathurin — was  the 
model  Avhich,  amplified  and  completed  later  at  Ver- 
sailles, was  to  be  adopted  for  the  gardens  of  all  Europe, 
and  to  remain  in  vogue  until  the  naturalist  movement 
of  the  eighteenth  century  should  cause  a  reaction. 

Whether  it  was  on  account  of  her  superstitious 
fears  that  the  Queen-Mother  abandoned  the  Tuileries, 
a  soothsayer  having  predicted  her  death  "  near  St. 
Germain,"  or  Avhether  it  Avas  OAving  to  the  vicinity  of 
the  pig-market,  Avitli  its  overpoAvering  smells,  from 
1572  Avork  on  the  Tuileries  ceased,  and  Catherine 
devoted  herself  to  a  ncAv  and  still  more  ambitious  un- 

*  But  little  interest  seems  to  have  been  taken  by  contemporaries 
in  the  construction  of  the  Tuilerie?.  Ronsard  scores  it  in  the  fol- 
lowing lines  : 

**  J'ai  veu  trop  de  Majons, 
Bastir  les  Tuileries, 
Et  en  trop  de  fapons, 
Faire  les  Momeries." 


THE  MEDICEAN  PERIOD.  281 

dertaking.  Tlie  vast  palace,  second  in  size  only  to 
the  Louvre,  which  she  now  built  occupied  the  site  of 
a  hotel  called  successively  de  Nesle  and  de  Boheme, 
situated  a  little  to  the  south-east  of  the  Church  of  St. 
Eustache.  Catherine  added  the  domain  of  the  Filles 
Penitentes,  Avhom  she  moved  to  the  Rue  St.  Denis, 
and  several  of  the  adjoining  houses.  In  one  of  the 
courts  of  the  Palais  de  la  Reine,  as  it  was  now  called, 
stood  a  lofty  column,  an  imitation  of  that  in  Trajan's 
Forum,  from  the  top  of  Avhich  tradition  has  repre- 
sented Catherine  studying  the  heavens,  in  pursuance 
of  her  taste  for  astrology. 

The  Church  of  St.  Eustache,  dating  from  the  thir- 
teenth century,  was  entirely  rebuilt  at  this  period ; 
that  is,  it  was  begun  in  1532,  but  not  completed  for 
more  than  a  hundred  years.  Viollet  le  Due  describes 
this  building  as  ^^  a  sort  of  Gothic  skeleton  clad  in 
Roman  rags  sewed  together  like  the  pieces  in  a  har- 
lequin's dress."     But  it  has  a  glorious  great  roof. 

The  great  Hotel  d'Armagnac  had  meanwhile  been 
cut  up  into  a  number  of  smaller  dwellings,  bearing 
such  names  as  "  Des  Trois  Pucelles,"  ''  Du  Gros 
Tournois  et  de  I'Image  Notre  Dame,"  ''  de  la  Fleur 
de  Lis,"  etc. ;  between  the  last  two  was  a  little  street, 
or  rather  cul-de-sac,  called  la  Cour  Orry,  which  has 
been  preserved  under  one  form  or  another  through 
all  the  succeeding  changes  that  have  swept  over  this 
spot.  The  Petits  Champs,  though  now  partially  in- 
cluded within  the  city  walls,  still  merited  the  name. 


282  PAKis. 

It  was,  indeed,  a  lonely  neighborhood  that  lay  to  the 
north-east  of  the  end  of  the  Rue  St.  Honore,  fre- 
quented principally  by  thieves  and  vagabonds.  Here 
at  the  bottom  of  the  Rue  des  Petits  Champs,  near  a 
windmill  that  stood  at  its  intersection  with  the  Rue 
Coquilliere,  M.  de  Caumont  la  Force  and  his  son  were 
massacred  on  the  day  after  St.  Bartholomew.  The 
younger  son  escaped  by  pretending  that  he  was  dead, 
a  naquet — tennis-marker — saved  the  boy  by  carry- 
ing him  along  the  entire  length  of  the  deserted  ram- 
parts to  the  Arsenal,  where  he  delivered  him  safely 
to  his  aunt,  Mme.  de  Brisembourg. 

The  fountain  (the  work  of  Pierre  Lescot  and  Jean 
Goujon)  that  stood  at  the  corner  of  the  Rue  aux  Fers 
and  the  Rue  St.  Denis,  at  the  time  of  which  we  write, 
has  been  preserved  to  the  present  day,  and  may  now 
be  seen  in  the  centre  of  the  Marche  aux  Innocents. 

Close  by  to  the  north-east  stood  the  Temple,  which 
we  find  (its  tower,  that  is)  coming  a  little  more  into 
notice  in  the  sixteenth  century  as  a  store-house  for 
arms  and  powder  manufactured  at  the  Arsenal.  On 
the  eve  of  the  "  Jour  des  Barricades,"  Henry  III. 
learning  that  the  League  intended  seizing  the  Tem- 
ple on  the  following  morning  and  distributing  the 
stores  among  the  people,  sent  troops  to  defend  it.  A 
few  days  later,  however,  the  populace  succeeded  in 
forcing  an  entrance,  aided  by  the  very  "  archers  de 
la  Ville  "  brought  there  by  the  Prevot  des  Marchands 
for  its  defense. 


THE  MEDICEAN  PERIOD.  283 

In  the  Rue  Culture  Ste.  Catherine  there  still  stands 
one  of  the  most  beautiful  monuments  of  the  sixteenth 
century,  the  hotel  built  by  Pierre  Lescot  and  decorated 
by  Jean  Goujon  for  Jacques  des  Ligneris.  It  took 
the  name  of  the  Dame  de  Carnavalet,  when  she  bought 
it  in  1578.  Another  hotel  of  this  period  was  that 
called  d'Angouleme,  in  the  Rue  Pavee,  built  by  Diana 
of  France,  a  natural  daughter  of  Henry  II.  In  the 
Rue  Ste.  Avoye  stood  the  hotel  built  by  the  Con- 
stable Anne  of  Montmorency,  who  died  there  in  1567 
from  wounds  received  in  the  battle  of  St.  Denis. 
The  hotel  of  Louis  de  I'Hospital,  Seigneur  de  Vitry, 
stood  on  the  Rue  Minimes,  on  a  part  of  the  gardens 
of  the  Hotel  Royal  des  Tournelles.  A  number  of 
other  Marshals  of  France  also  had  their  hotels  in  the 
Quartier  du  Marais. 

The  Hotel  de  Clisson,  which  had  passed  into  the 
hands  of  the  Due  de  Guise  in  1553,  had  been  en- 
larged by  the  purchase  of  several  neighboring  hotels  ; 
these  were  connected  with  it  by  various  new  con- 
structions, the  vaulted  doorway  of  the  great  entrance 
on  the  Rue  de  Chaume  being  left  intact,  with  its  tur- 
rets on  either  side.  The  chapel  was  repaired  and 
decorated  with  paintings  by  Niccolo  Abbate.  The  Lor- 
raine Princes  occupied  this  dwelling  uninterruptedly 
from  the  year  1556,  Avhen  Francis  de  Lorraine  deeded 
it  to  his  brother  Louis,  Cardinal  de  Guise,  until  the 
very  end  of  the  seventeenth  century. 

The  neighboring  Hotel  des  Tournelles  was  seldom 


284  PARIS. 

inhabited  by  the  immediate  successors  of  Louis  XII., 
both  Francis  I.  and  Henry  II.  preferring  those  mag- 
nificent country  seats  and  vast  chateaux,  which  they 
built  for  themselves  at  Fontainebleau,  at  Compiegne,at 
Chambord,  and  at  a  dozen  other  places,  to  the  gloomy, 
confined  quarters  of  the  hotel,  full  of  the  memories 
of  Louis  XL,  with  its  bad  air  and  detestable  smells. 
When  afi*airs  of  state  demanded  their  presence  in 
Paris,  they  greatly  preferred  to  stay  at  the  Louvre, 
which,  moreover,  always  maintained  more  the  char- 
acter of  a  seat  of  the  Crown.  One  attraction  of  the 
Hotel  des  Tournelles  was,  however,  its  lists,  where 
tournaments  were  held  on  the  occasion  of  a  royal 
entry  or  other  state  function.  It  was  in  the  lists  on 
the  Rue  St.  Antoine  that  Henry  II.  Avas  fatally 
wounded  by  the  8ire  de  Montgomery,  on  the  occa- 
sion (in  1559)  of  his  daughter  Elizabeth's  marriage 
with  Philip  II.  of  Spain  ;  the  King  was  taken  to  the 
Hotel  des  Tournelles,  where  he  died  after  ten  days 
of  intense  sufi'ering.  This  affair  ended  the  history 
of  the  palace.  Charles  IX.  kept  his  birds,  his  dogs, 
and  his  menagerie  there  for  some  years.  The 
Queen-Mother  wanted  to  have  it  torn  down  and  a 
horse-market  established  in  its  place,  but  this  was  not 
done,  and  the  buildings,  entirely  neglected,  fell  into 
greater  ruin  year  by  year.  The  other  royal  resi- 
dence in  this  quarter,  the  Hotel  Royal  de  St.  Paul, 
was  composed,  it  will  be  remembered,  of  an  agglom- 
eration of  individual  hotels,  connected  and  enclosed, 


THE  MEDICEAN  PERIOD.  285 

and  called  by  the  one  name.  In  the  reign  of  Francis 
1.  the  disintegration  of  this  collection  took  place. 
By  a  series  of  grants  and  sales  a  number  of  persons 
became  the  proprietors  of  these  different  hotels ;  some 
were  rebuilt  and  others  only  added  to  or  repaired.  A 
good  many  of  the  original  constructions  still  exist  in 
the  old  houses  in  the  neighborhood  of  the  Quai  des 
Celestins. 

On  this  Quai  des  Celestins  stood  the  arsenal  be- 
longing to  the  Corps  de  Ville,  a  jealously  guarded 
possession,  since  it  was  adapted  to  the  casting  of 
guns,  something  that  could  not  be  done  with  safety 
in  the  royal  arsenal  of  the  Louvre.  Great  uneasiness 
was  felt,  therefore,  when  Francis  I.  sent  two  of  his 
officers  to  "  borrow  "  this  arsenal  for  the  purpose  of 
founding  some  cannons.  The  Prevot  des  Marchands 
did  his  best  to  get  out  of  it,  but  without  success. 
The  loan  was  made,  and  although  the  city  continued 
for  years  to  submit  demands  for  the  return  of  its 
property,  it  was  never  given  back,  but  became  the 
arsenal  of  the  Crown  under  Henry  II.  This  vast 
establishment,  surrounded  by  walls  and  moats  by 
Charles  IX.,  reached  from  the  river  to  the  Bastille, 
and  with  its  two  thousand  workmen,  trained  in  a 
military  discipline  of  the  severest  kind,  was  like  a 
great  fortress.  Experience  had,  indeed,  taught  the 
necessity  for  discipline,  since  the  explosion  of  the 
powder  stored  in  the  old  Tour  de  Billy  in  1538, 
which   caused  not  only  the  utter  destruction  of  the 


286  PARIS. 

tower,  but  great  damage  in  the  neighborhood ;  and 
that  other  exphjsion  in  1563,  in  one  of  the  powder- 
mills  of  the  arsenal  itself,  when  a  great  many  lives 
were  lost  and  almost  all  the  buildings  Avithin  the  en- 
closure thrown  down.  The  Huguenots  were  accused 
of  having  been  the  authors  of  tliis  disaster,  and  a 
massacre  was  threatened.  It  was  after  this  that 
Charles  IX.  rebuilt  it. 

During  this  period  the  Bastille  had  become  more 
and  more  distinctly  a  prison.  After  the  Jour  des 
Barricades,  the  Due  de  Guise  being  master  of  it, 
Bussj-Leclerc  was  placed  in  charge,  and  under  him 
ten  times  as  many  prisoners  are  said  to  have  been 
confined  there  as  had  been  the  case  under  the  Kinffs 
from  the  time  of  its  foundation.  On  Monday,  Janu- 
ary 16,  1589j  Bussy-Leclerc,  with  twenty-five  or 
thirty  of  his  guard,  presented  himself,  pistol  in  hand, 
in  the  Grand  Salle  of  the  Palais  de  la  Cite,  where  the 
Parliament  was  sitting,  and  compelled  the  members — 
sixty  Avere  present — to  march  through  the  streets  in 
their  black  and  red  robes  to  the  Bastille,  where  he 
kept  them  until  they  had  paid  a  ransom. 

Under  Francis  I.  the  Palais  de  la  Cite  is  spoken 
of  but  little.  The  King  still  looks  upon  it  as  his 
official  residence,  as  it  were,  and  goes  there  when 
occasion  demands  some  special  act  of  religious  devo- 
tion. In  1521,  for  instance,  he  receives  the  sacra- 
ment in  the  Church  of  St.  Bartholomew,  in  his  char- 
acter of  "  chief  parishioner,"  and   two   years   later, 


THE  MEDICEAN  PERIOD.  287 

just  before  starting  for  Italy,  he  comes  to  the  Saints 
Chapelle  to  visit  the  Holy  Relics. 

After  the  King's  release  from  his  captivity  in 
Madrid  the  first  Te  Deum  was  chanted  in  the  Sainte 
Chapelle,  and  it  Avas  in  the  Grand  Salle  that  Francis, 
surrounded  by  a  brilliant  company  composed  of  the 
highest  nobility,  the  princes  of  the  blood,  the  peers. 
Cardinals  and  Bishops,  the  Papal  Legate,  the  foreign 
ambassadors,  and,  finally,  the  Parliament  and  coun- 
sellors, received  the  envoy  of  the  Emperor  bringing 
his  reply  to  Francis'  demand  that  a  place  should  be 
assigned  for  their  meeting.  On  the  surface  it  ap- 
peared as  though  this  imposing  gathering  had  been 
called  together  to  no  purpose,  for  when  the  King 
learned  that  the  herald  had  nothing  to  communicate 
about  the  proposed  "  mortal  combat,"  he  Avould  not 
hear  what  he  had  to  say  at  all.  This,  however,  was 
no  doubt  precisely  what  he  was  aiming  at,  it  having 
been  his  claim  from  the  beginning  that  the  quarrel 
was  merely  a  personal  one  between  himself  and  the 
Emperor,  and  a  matter  in  which  France  had  no  con- 
cern Avhatever. 

Among  the  numerous  wares  sold  in  the  Palais  pre- 
cincts at  this  time,  books  held  the  chief  place. 
The  destruction  of  the  Pont  Notre  Dame,  in  1499, 
had  obliged  the  bookseller,  Antoine  Verard,  to  estab- 
lish himself  there,  and  he 'had  also  another  shop  at 
the  other  end  of  the  island ;  both  addresses  are  found 
in  his  books  published  after  that  date.      Two  others, 


288  PARIS. 

Gallic  &  Dupre,  whose  emblem  was  "  Vogue  la  Gal- 
lee,"  and  Abel  L'Angelier,  who  published  Montaigne's 
works  in  1588,  were  among  the  number  of  those  who 
had  their  shops  in  the  Palais. 

On  the  marriage  of  the  eldest  son  of  Henry  II. 
with  Mary  of  Scotland,  a  magnificent  supper  was 
given  in  the  Grand  Salle,  and  others  inj;he  following 
year,  when  the  two  weddings  of  the  King's  daughter 
and  sister  were  celebrated ;  it  was  then  that  Henry 
was  killed  in  a  tournament  in  the  Rue  St.  Antoine. 
This  event,  which  we  mentioned  above,  is  also  as- 
sociated with  the  Palais,  for,  fifteen  years  later,  when 
Montgomery,  who  had  meanwhile  identified  himself 
with  the  Huguenot  party,  was  taken  prisoner  he  was 
tied  hand  and  foot  and  imprisoned  in  the  tower  of  the 
Conciergerie.  Although  his  imprisonment  lasted  but 
ten  days,  he  had  gained  such  notoriety  by  his  unfor- 
nate  tourney  with  the  King  that  the  people  con- 
tinued to  call  the  tower  in  the  interior  of  the  Palais 
by  his  name  until  it  was  demolished  under  Louis  XVI. 

While  under  Francis  I.  the  only  additions  to  the 
Palais,  of  which  we  find  any  mention,  were  five  high 
gibbets,  erected  at  the  time  of  the  King's  captivity. 
Henry  11.  enriched  the  Sainte  Chapelle  Avith  a  beau- 
tiful rood-screen  and  two  altars  ;  the  carved  likenesses 
of  himself  and  Catherine  de  Medicis,  and  of  Francis 
I.  and  Eleanora  of  Austria,  belonging  to  them,  are 
now  preserved  in  the  Louvre.  Henry  also  built  the 
wing  in  purest   Renaissance   style,  which   stands  at 


THE  MEDICEAN  PERIOD.  289 

right  angles  Avith  the  "  Galerie  Merciere/'  where  the 
lower  court  now  holds  its  sittings.  The  building 
which  he  erected  on  the  river  bank  as  a  depot  for 
the  archives  of  the  Chanibre  des  Comptes  is  in  a 
severer  style  ;  it  was  connected  with  the  main  build- 
ing by  means  of  a  bridge  spanning  the  Rue  de  Naza- 
reth. The  archivolts,  resting  on  light  brackets,  were 
ornamented  with  alternate  heads  of  satyrs  and  women, 
interspersed  with  the  carved  monograms  of  Henry 
and  Diana.  Some  portions  of  this  construction  are 
still  standing,  though  it  was  greatly  injured  during 
the  Commune. 

The  only  work  undertaken  by  Henry  HI.  at  the 
Palais  was  the  decoration  of  the  clock  in  the  Tour  de 
I'Horlogo.  Under  his  directions  it  was  ornamented 
with  carvings  by  Germain  Pilon,  and  surmounted  by 
a  flattering  inscription  by  Passerat ;  too  flattering,  in 
the  opinion  of  the  Parisians,  for  this  unpopular  King, 
for  they  proceeded  to  parody  it  mercilessly. 

It  was  while  pacing  up  and  down  in  the  green 
alleys  of  the  "  Jardin  du  Bailliage  "  that  the  Presi- 
dent de  Harlay  was  confronted  by  the  Due  de  Guise 
a  few  days  after  the  King's  flight,  when  the  fearless 
manner  of  the  Premier  daimted  the  Leaguers  and 
secured  him  a  reprieve  of  some  months  at  least. 

For  some  reason  the  Pont  Keuf  has  become  in  the 
popular  mind  a  creation  of  Henry  IV.  The  impres- 
sion is  erroneous.  Ever  since  the  latter  part  of  the 
fourteenth  century  the  people  of  Paris  had  been  try- 

19 


290  PARIS. 

ing  to  get  a  bridge  to  connect  the  Louvre,  the  He  de 
la  Cite,  and  the  Faubourg  St.  Germain.  In  1556 
the  inhabitants  of  this  hist  quarter  submitted  a  formal 
petition  to  the  King  on  the  subject,  but  the  Prevot 
des  Marchands,  to  whom  he  turned  the  matter  over, 
refused  to  do  anything  on  account  of  want  of  money. 
Finally,  however,  in  1578  the  work  was  begun.  In 
1585,  under  Henry  III.,  a  commission  was  appointed 
"  pour  I'establissement  du  Pont  Neuf  en  pierre."  It 
had  been  decided  to  connect  the  two  small  islands 
lying  below  it  with  the  He  de  la  Cite,  and  the  bridge 
was  to  cross  the  western  extremity  of  the  now-pro- 
longed island,  starting  from  the  end  of  the  Rue  de  la 
Monnaie,  then  much  narrower  than  it  is  to-day,  on 
the  right  bank,  and  opening  at  the  other  end  opposite 
a  narrow  alley,  the  present  Rue  de  Nevers,  that  ran 
between  the  Augustin  Convent  and  the  Hotel  de 
Nevers.  It  was  not  till  thirty  years  later  that  this 
inconvenient  arrangement  was  remedied  by  the  open- 
ing of  the  Rue  Dauphine. 

Plans  by  GuiUaume  Marchand  and  Du  Cerceau 
had  been  adopted,  and  the  work,  especially  on  the 
left  arm  of  the  Seine,  was  pushed  as  rapidly  as  the 
empty  treasury  and  constant  wars  would  permit. 
This  southern  half,  under  the  name  of  Pont  des  Au- 
gustins,  was  even  in  use  before  anything,  but  some 
piles  sticking  out  of  the  water  coidd  be  seen  of  the 
other  part.  The  whole  was  not  completed  until  the 
reign  of  Henry  IV. 


THE  MEDICEAN  PEEIOD.  291 

It  was  across  the  Pont  Notre  Dame,  finished  some 
twenty-five  years  earher,  that  Eleanora  of  Austria 
made  her  state  entry  into  Paris,  the  procession  pass- 
ing down  the  entire  length  of  the  Rue  St.  Denis, 
around  the  Chatelet  on  the  left,  and  so  to  the  Pont 
Notre  Dame,  which  was  used  for  subsequent  royal 
entries. 

On  the  left  of  the  street,  which  formed  a  continua- 
tion of  the  bridge — -Rue  de  la  Lanterne  and  Rue  de 
la  Juiverie,  now  Rue  de  la  Cite — stood  the  newly- 
restored  Church  of  the  Madeleine,  which  had  re- 
placed the  synagogue  of  Philip- Augustus'  day.  This 
church  had  a  special  importance  as  the  seat  of  the 
oldest  and  most  highly  thought  of  brotherhood  of 
Paris,  the  "  Grande  Confrerie  de  Notre  Dame  aux 
Seigneurs,  pretres  et  bourgeois  de  Paris,"  whose 
Abbot  was  the  Archbishop,  and  Dean,  the  President 
of  Parliament.  On  the  Monday  of  the  Octave  of 
the  Assumption  the  society  walked  in  procession,  all 
the  clergy  Avearing  their  robes.  Blanche  of  Castille, 
the  mother  of  Saint  Louis,  had  been  admitted  not- 
withstanding her  sex ;  thus  a  precedent  was  estab- 
lished, and  after  that  the  King  and  Queen  of  France 
were  always  made  members.  On  every  Friday  of 
Lent  the  Good  Friday  service  Avas  recited,  in  memory 
of  the  Jewish  origin  of  this  very  ancient  church. 
Proceeding  down  the  Rue  de  la  Juiverie,  we  find 
that  a  great  change  has  taken  place  since  we  last  saw 
this  neighborhood,  nothing  less  than  the  transforma- 


292  PARIS. 

tion  of  the  quiet,  secluded  "  Grande  Orberie  "  into  a 
busy,  crowded  vegetable  and  fish-market,  the  Marche 
Neuf.  By  pulling  down,  about  1558,  two  houses,  one 
called  dc  St.  Jean  Baptistc,  and  the  other  dc  la  Fleur 
de  Lis,  communication  was  once  more  opened  be- 
tween the  Rue  du  Marche  Paid  and  the  Petit-Pont, 
and  a  year  or  two  later  the  quay  was  constructed ;  it 
was  in  connection  with  this  Avork  that  the  new  door- 
way and  tower  of  St.  Germain  le  Vieux  Avas  put  up. 
Jean  Goujon  executed  some  sculptures  for  the  arched 
entrance  to  the  fish-market — two  Tritons  in  bas-re- 
lief blowing  on  horns.  The  new  market  was  for- 
mally opened  in  June,  1568. 

No  important  changes  were  made  at  this  time  in 
the  Cathedral  Church.  Queens  came  there  to  be 
crowned,  while  the  Kings  of  France  (who  had  been 
crowned  at  Rheims)  attended  the  solemn  services 
which  followed  at  Notre  Dame.  Here  Te  Deums 
were  chanted  when  some  national  cause  of  rejoicing 
occurred,  and  here  were  conducted  the  funeral  services 
of  the  rulers  of  France.  From  the  early  days  of  its 
history  it  had  been  the  custom  to  place  cradles,  first 
inside  the  church  and  later  on  the  porch,  for  the  re- 
ception of  abandoned  children  ;  these  were  sometimes 
left  on  the  steps  of  St.  Jean  le  Rond  as  well.  In 
1552  the  first  Foundling  Hospital  of  Paris  was  es- 
tablished, between  St.  Christopher  and  Ste.  Genevieve 
des  Ardents.  Grave  abuses  crept  into  the  manage- 
ment of  this  place,  and  one  account  states  that  infants 


St.  Eticnne  du  Mont. 


THE  MEDICEAN  PERIOD.  293 

from  there  could  be  bought  on  the  Rue  St.  Landry 
for  twenty  sous  apiece,  the  customers  bemg  profes- 
sional beggars  and  acrobats. 

In  1531  Cardinal  Duprat  added  a  new  hall  capable 
of  containing  a  hundred  beds  to  the  Hotel  Dieu,  the 
charming  Renaissance  gable  of  which  rose  close  to 
the  entrance  to  Notre  Dame. 

It  will  only  be  necessary  to  note  a  few  changes  in 
the  University  Quarter  during  this  period.  The 
brothers  of  St.  Julian  le  Pauvre,  scandalized  by  the 
stormy  scenes  which  took  place  in  their  Priory  in 
1534,  ask  Parliament  to  appoint  some  other  spot  for 
the  students  of  the  Faculty  of  Arts  to  hold  their 
elections. 

In  1517  the  corner-stone  is  laid  of  the  new  Church 
of  St.  Etienne  du  Mont,  which  is  not  completed  until 
a  hundred  years  later,  and  the  Cordeliers  Church, 
burned  down  in  1580,  is  rebuilt  by  Henry  III.,  the 
Chevaliers  du  St.  Esprit,  and  the  De  Thou  family  ; 
and,  finally,  the  Abbey  of  St.  Victor  is  almost  en- 
tirely rebuilt  in  the  first  half  of  the  sixteenth  century. 

Let  us  close  with  a  word  or  two  on  the  Faubourg 
St.  Germain  under  Francis  I.  The  Hotel  de  Nesle 
was  divided  into  the  ''  grand  Nesle,"  including  the 
tower,  the  gateway,  and  the  moat,  which  still  be- 
longed to  the  Crown,  and  the  ^'  petit  Nesle,"  which 
became  the  property  of  the  city.  In  1540,  however, 
Francis  gave  Benvenuto  Cellini  permission  to  occupy 
the  Petit  Nesle.     "  I  told  the  King,"  says  Cellini  in 


294  PAKTS. 

his  memoirs,  "  that  I  had  found  a  place  that  Avould  do 
admirably  for  my  work.  A  place,  I  continued,  called 
the  Petit  Nesle^  which  belongs  to  your  Majesty,  and 
which  has  been  ceded  to  the  Provost  of  Paris.  As 
he  makes  no  use  of  it,  your  Majesty  may  well  give 
it  to  me,  as  I  will  certainly  apply  it  to  your  service. 
^  The  chateau  is  mine,'  the  King  replied,  '  and  I  know 
very  well  that  the  person  to  whom  I  have  given  it 
does  not  live  there,  so  take  it  for  yoiir  work.'  And 
then  he  ordered  one  of  his  lieutenants  to  put  me  in  pos- 
session. This  officer  told  him  it  was  impossible.  But 
the  King  became  angry  and  said  that  he  meant  to 
give  his  own  property  to  whomsoever  he  pleased,  and 
especially  to  persons  who  were  working  for  him,  that 
this  chateau  was  of  no  use  to  any  one,  and  finally, 
that  he  did  not  want  to  hear  anything  more  on  the 
subject.  The  lieutenant  remarked  that  it  would  be 
necessary  to  employ  force.  'Very  well,  then,'  said  the 
King,  '  use  force ;  and  if  a  little  is  not  enough,  then 
use  a  great  deal.'  The  lieutenant  accordingly  took 
me  to  the  Petit  Nesle,  and  established  me  there,  but 
told  me  to  be  on  the  alert  or  I  Avould  be  killed.  So 
I  engaged  a  large  number  of  servants  and  laid  in  a 
cj^uantit}'  of  arms " 

The  upshot  of  it  was  that  Cellini  stayed  there, 
notwithstanding  the  efforts  of  the  Prevot  des  Mar- 
chands  to  dislodge  him. 

All  of  the  Hotel  de  Nesle,  but  the  tower,  gateway, 
and  moat,  which  now  became  the  property  of  the  city, 


THE  MEDICEAN  PERIOD.  295 

were  offered  for  sale  under  Henry  II.  For  a  long  time 
no  purchaser  appeared,  but  it  Avas  finally  bought  by 
the  Prince  of  Nevers,  Louis  de  Gonzague,  who  built 
a  magnificent  palace  on  its  site. 

The  Faubourg  St.  Germain,  neglected  during  the 
wars  of  the  fifteenth  century,  made  a  fresh  start  in  the 
beginning  of  the  sixteenth,  and  the  University  took 
advantage  of  the  movement  to  rid  itself  of  the  Petit 
Pre  aux  Clercs,  of  no  use  and  a  great  burden  to  keep 
its  moats  cleaned  and  in  order.  In  1539  notices  were 
posted  announcing  that  the  Pre  was  for  sale  ;  by  1552 
the  entire  space  was  covered  with  buildings  and  gar- 
dens, Avhile  the  quai  Malaquais  dates  from  the  same 
period. 

The  Huguenots  chose  this  neighborhood  for  their 
meetings,  whence  its  name  of  petite  Geneve.  The 
Rue  des  Marais  was  inhabited  almost  exclusively  by 
them,  and  we  will  close  the  chapter  Avith  this  mention 
of  a  faction  whose  political  importance  had  led  to  the 
St.  Bartholomew  in  the  period  Ave  have  been  dis- 
cussing, and  was  destined  to  produce  the  wars  of  re- 
ligion Avhose  action  covers  the  first  part  of  our  next 
period. 


296  PARIS. 


CHAPTER    VI I. 

PARIS   UNDER    HENRY    IV. 

The  period  which  we  .are  about  to  treat  in  this 
chapter  covers  but  twenty  years,  and  deals  with  but 
one  reign ;  nevertheless  this  short  space  of  time 
merits  a  separate  place  on  account  of  its  importance 
in  the  history  of  the  city.  It  Avould  not  be  possible 
to  include  it  in  the  long  and  complicated  history 
through  which  we  have  just  passed,  for  it  was  a 
period  of  peace  and  of  reorganization  ;  on  the  other 
hand,  it  would  be  unwise  to  merge  it  in  the  story  of 
the  seventeenth  century — in  the  account  of  the  trans- 
formation of  Paris — first,  because  it  is  politically  dis- 
tinct from  the  era  of  the  great  Cardinals  ;  secondly, 
because  the  personality  of  Henry  IV.  is  so  separate 
from  that  of  his  successors ;  and  thirdly,  because, 
though  his  work  was  the  beginning  of  the  rebuilding, 
yet  it  was  an  attempt  peculiar  to  the  reign,  and  one 
which  would  be  ill-understood  in  connection  with  the 
efforts  of  Richelieu  or  of  Mazarin.  English  and 
American  readers  Avill  understand  this  attitude  if  we 
put  it  thus  :  "  That  the  time  of  Shakespeare  should  not 
be  confounded  with  the  time  of  Cromwell."  In  order 
to  effect  this  differentiation  it  is  necessary  to  deal  in 
a  short  chapter  with  the  architectural  movement  of 


PARIS  UNDER  HENRY  IV.        297 

less  than  a  generation,  but  the  above  paragraph  will 
(we  hope)  furnish  an  excuse. 

In  the  first  place,  of  what  character  was  the  period? 
With   the  religious  wars  w^e  have  already  dealt,  we 
have  seen  their  complexity  and  have  noted  the  tangle 
of  dynastic,  of  national,  of  religious,  and  of  personal 
interests  Avhich  no  one  can  quite  succeed  in  unravel- 
ling.     When  Henry  enters  Paris  the  various  elements 
seem — mainly  through  lapse  of  time — to  be  resolving 
themselves ;  we  have  with  this  first  of  the  Bourbons 
the  characters  which  are  to  follow  the  house  for  ex- 
actly two  hundred  years  (I  mean  from  1589  to  1789), 
and  which  are  to  be  the  fruitful  cause  of  its  grandeur 
and  of  its  decay.      These  may  be  enumerated  as  fol- 
lows :   (1)  The  governing,  and  idtimately  the  absolute 
poAver  of  the  crown,  due  to  (2)  the  demand  for  national 
unity,  which  is  the  dumb  yet  controlling  force  of  the 
two  centuries,  which  in  its  turn  is  led  by  (3)  Paris, 
which  has  been  growing  more  and  more  conscious  of 
its   hegemony  and  of  its  separate   life  ;  these  strong 
national  currents,  destined  to  survive  and  to  be  (all 
unseen)  the  basis  of  the  Revolution,  are  combated  by 
(4)  the  remaining  pretensions  of  the  nobles,  and  their 
insistence  (as  their  political  power  decHnes)  upon  op- 
pressive and  useless  privilege,  and  (5)  the   body  of 
the   French   Protestants,  now  grown   to  a  body  defi- 
nitely religious  in  character,  and  separatist  now  from 
their  ideas  rather  than  from  their  former  ground  of 
material  interest. 


298  PARIS. 

All  these  five  points  (as  we  shall  see)  show  espe- 
cially strong  contrasts  when  in  the  seventeenth  cen- 
tury the  generation  of  the  Medicean  time  was  dead ; 
but  even  with  1589  they  are  strongly  accentuated, 
and  we  feel  that  we  have  entered  into  the  new  Avorld. 

Following  this  movement  comes,  as  we  shall  see 
in  this  chapter,  the  first  hearty  attempt  to  transform 
Paris,  to  replace  the  Gothic  by  the  Renaissance.  It 
was  late  in  the  day  for  this  to  come,  but  Paris  is 
northern,  the  influence  of  Italy  was  bound  to  touch 
her  almost  as  tardily  as  it  touched  England.  We 
saw  in  the  last  chapter  hoAv  the  spirit  of  the  classical 
revival  shot  fitfully  through  the  Gothic  city  over 
which  Catherine  had  ruled.  Yet  that  force,  though 
strong  and  vivid,  struck  but  here  and  there — there 
was  no  complete  evidence  of  it  outside  of  the  Tuil- 
eries,  and  the  town  into  which  Henry  rode  was  still 
a  place  of  pointed  roofs,  of  spires,  and  of  timbered 
houses,  though  the  western  wing  of  the  Louvre 
(which  Henry  II.  had  built),  the  Tuileries,  and  here 
and  there  a  church  or  private  house,  lifted  a  high  new 
roof  and  showed  a  dome  or  a  colonnade.  An  odd 
feature  of  it  all  was  the  ring  of  fortifications,  modern 
and  bastioned,  contrasting  violently  with  the  mediaeval 
towers  ol  the  Palais  and  of  the  Louvre. 

Well  in  the  time  of  Henry  the  change  becomes 
general  from  having  been  spasmodic.  As  the  de- 
scription of  his  work  will  make  clear,  the  spots  he 
had  time  to  change  were  few,  but  they  were  scat- 


PAEIS  UNDER  HENRY  IV.  299 

tered,  they  were  representative,  and  they  sufficed  to 
profoundly  change  the  aspect  of  the  city.  In  archi- 
tecture, as  in  every  other  thing,  France  and  Paris 
find  the  idea  before  they  execute  the  tiling.  The 
nation  and  its  capital  are  a  standing  menace  to  the 
"  historic  method,"  and  (like  human  beings)  they 
think  before  they  realize  their  thought  in  action 
Upon  that  basis  we  may  say,  with  a  little  stretching 
of  the  metaphor,  that  Henry  of  Navarre  began  to 
make  the  city  which  the  Italian  Avoman  and  her  con- 
temporaries had  imagined.  Thus  France  to-day  is 
profoundly  building  up  (and  how  few  can  see  it !)  the 
solid  building  whose  architects  died  all  in  germinal 
of  the  year  II. 

The  events  of  the  reign  (though  there  is  space 
here  but  for  the  briefest  mention  of  the  most  import- 
ant) should  be  grasped  before  we  speak  of  its  monu- 
ments. For,  especially  towards  its  close,  they  will 
explain  much  of  Henry's  efforts,  and  still  more  of 
their  partial  nature. 

When  Henry  III.  had  ended  his  peripatetics  in 
death,  and  when  the  knife  of  Clement  had  completed 
the  failure  which  the  King's  own  character  had  pre- 
pared, then  Henry  of  Navarre  was  left  the  only  con- 
ceivable heir  to  the  throne.  It  was  not  that  Henry 
HI.  had  so  named  him  before  he  died,  nor  even  the 
legitimacy  of  his  claim,  so  much  as  the  attitude  of 
the  opposing  party,  which  made  this  certain.  Paris, 
his  principal  opponent,  was  in  a  kind  of  angry  "  im- 


300  PARIS. 

passe/'  the  city  was  all  for  unity,  for  centralized  gov- 
ernment, for  the  nation — as  opposed  to  faction.  It 
was  this  which  had  made  it  support  Guise,  and  when 
the  last  of  the  Valois  made  his  volte-face  it  was  left 
in  a  confusion  of  principles.  Once  all  the  forces  to 
which  the  city  had  been  devoted  were  in  the  same 
person  or  cause,  now  they  were  disunited.  If  they 
looked  to  the  King,  to  the  central  government,  the 
Huguenot  appeared ;  if  they  turned  to  attack  feudal- 
ism, why  legitimacy  itself  was  leading  the  nobles. 
Paris  might  talk  and  argue  about  a  King-Cardinal, 
or  the  claims  of  the  Infanta,  but  she  knew  in  her  heart 
that  she  could  not  desert  the  male  line  and  the  eldest 
representative.  Neither  could  she  accept  the  Hu- 
guenot supremacy,  which  was  simply  another  name 
for  the  victory  of  the  provinces  and  of  aristocracy. 

As  might  be  expected  in  such  a  dilemma,  actual 
circumstances  rather  than  theories  carried  the  day. 
Paris  was  under  siege  when  Henry  III.  died,  and  she 
decided  to  continue  the  war.  It  was  more  than  three 
and  a  half  years,  from  August,  1589,  to  March,  1594, 
that  the  struggle  went  on.  On  Henry's  side  were 
the  growing  adhesion  of  the  provinces,  the  conquest 
of  Normandy,  the  great  battle  of  Ivry.  On  the  side 
of  Paris  was  (at  first)  the  genius  of  the  Duke  of 
Parma,  the  national  desire  to  see  the  capital  at  its 
head,  and,  most  important  of  all,  the  desperate  valor 
of  the  citizens. 

Paris  at  that  moment  was  like  a  man  who  knows 


PAKIS  UNDER  HENRY  IV.  301 

that  his  quarrel  has  been  just,  knows  that  he  should 
make  terms,  but,  led  on  by  the  momentum  of  his 
anger,  is  but  the  more  determined  to  fight  to  the  end. 
Ivry,  great  and  decisive  victory  though  it  was,  failed 
to  accomplish  Henry's  purpose. 

The  story  of  Henry's  abjuration  is  Avell  known. 
In  the  summer  of  1593  he  accepted  the  Roman  faith, 
and  with  that  act  the  end  Avas  in  sight,  though  the 
Duke  of  Mayenne  fought  hard  at  tlie  head  of  his 
garrison,  and  for  personal  reasons  Paris  itself  was 
veering  around.  It  had  stipulated  for  the  wars,  and 
Henry  had  paid  the  price.  De  Mayenne  was  away 
at  Soissons  when,  at  four  in  the  morning  of  March  22, 
1594,  Henry  entered  by  the  Porte  Neuve,  and  the 
next  day  the  people  acclaimed  him.  The  Spanish 
left  the  city,  and  Henry  was  definitely  established  in 
the  Louvre.  From  that  date  begins  a  united  and 
happy  reign,  memorable  in  the  afi"ections  of  the 
French  people. 

Once  firmly  established  in  his  palace,  Henry  be- 
gins that  policy  towards  the  continent  which  has 
become  the  foundation  of  modern  international  re- 
lations. He  feels  that  Avhat  was  esteemed  a  crime 
in  Louis  XI.  will  be  mere  patriotism  in  the  future. 
The  Middle  Ages  are  not  only  over,  they  are  even 
forgotten,  and  the  same  spirit  which  made  Henry  IV. 
destroy  the  Gothic  leads  him  also  to  replace  the  relics 
of  feudalism  in  foreign  politics  by  the  doctrine  of  the 
balance  of  power.    The  nations  of  Europe  were  formed 


302  PARIS. 

before  1500,  spent  the  sixteenth  century  in  turmoilj 
each  to  assert  its  independence,  and  now  with  the 
seventeenth  century  they  are  beginning  to  appear  in 
a  group  with  definite  federal  rules.  Thus  Henry 
fights  the  preponderance  of  Spain  and  retakes  the 
French  town  of  Amiens.  The  signal  result  of  that 
act  was  the  treaty  of  Vervins. 

But  to  hold  France  thus  as  a  watch-dog  in  Europe 
was  but  one  side  of  Henry's  policy.  If  he  desired 
her  independence  and  her  power  it  was,  in  his  prac- 
tical mind,  but  one  aspect  of  a  general  Avell-being 
which  Avas  his  chief  object,  the  careful  attention 
to  the  economic  condition  of  tlie  people,  the  wise  de- 
pendence upon  Sully's  judgment  and  the  chivalrous 
attempt  of  the  Edict  of  Nantes.  He  thought  it 
possible  for  the  two  religious  bodies  to  live  side  by 
side,  and  saw  the  supreme  importance  of  recognizing 
the  unity  of  the  country  by  the  equality  of  its  citizens. 
The  policy  Avas  doomed  to  fail,  and  that  unity  was 
not  achieved  by  a  compromise  but  by  a  fierce  ideal 
nearly  two  hundred  years  after  Henry's  time.  It  was 
this  common  sense  and  practical  but  patriotic  policy 
Avhich  endeared  Henry  to  the  hearts  of  the  people. 
The  peasants  understood  him  and  he  them  ;  so  that 
in  the  Eevolution  his  name  survived  and  his  grave 
was  spared. 

For  the  last  twelve  years  of  his  life  SuUy  is  at  his 
side,  and  as  the  reign  progresses  things  go  from  better 
to  better.     The  death  of  Gabrielle  d'Estrees  removed 


PAEIS  UNDER  HENRY  IV.  303 

the  danger  of  a  quixotic  alliance,  and  in  the  autumn 
of  the  next  year  (1600)  Henry  met  Marie  de  Medicis, 
the  queen,  at  Lyons.  In  September,  1601,  Louis 
XIIL  was  born,  and  in  July,  1 602,  Henry  cowed  the 
faction  of  the  nobles  (for  the  moment  at  least)  in  the 
execution  of  de  Biron. 

The  next  few  years  were  a  preparation  for  Avhat 
seemed  the  inevitable  struggle  between  this  new, 
strong,  centralized  kingship  of  France  and  the  house 
of  Austria  I  but  just  as  the  armies  were  collected, 
and  even  a  regent  (the  Queen)  appointed  for  the 
King's  absence,  fell  the  blow  of  Ravaillac.  Henry  was 
to  have  joined  the  army  on  the  19th  of  May  |  it  was 
on  the  14th  that  he  was  on  his  way  to  visit  Sully 
at  the  Arsenal ;  he  was  ill-attended  by  but  a  few 
gentlemen,  when  during  a  block  in  the  traffic  in  the 
Rue  Ferronnerie  the  carriage  stopped,  and  the  assassin 
thrust  in  his  arm  and  stabbed  the  King.  Ravaillac  was 
executed  with  tortures  horrible  but  not  undeserved ; 
for  if  Henry  had  lived  Ave  might  have  had  to 
chronicle  a  peaceful  and  contented  development  in 
the  early  seventeenth  century,  the  Fronde  and  the 
reaction  which  produced  the  despotism  of  Louis  XIV. 
might  surely  have  been  avoided.  As  it  is,  this  little 
space  stands  out  quite  distinct,  and,  in  the  history  of 
Paris,  is  the  preparation  of  the  great  reconstruction 
un^er  Richelieu. 

Since  the  Louvre  contains  the  most  important  relics 
of  Henry's  influence,  we  will  in  this  chapter  depart 


304  PAEIS. 

somewhat  from  our  usual  order  and  begin  with  the 
changes  that  occurred  in  that  palace. 

When  Marie  de  Medicis  arrived  in  Paris  in  January, 
1601,  she  could  not  recover  from  her  surprise  and 
disappointment  at  the  appearance  of  the  Louvre.  She 
came  from  a  full  renaissance  to  find  something  more 
than  half  mediaeval.  After  the  luxury  and  magnificence 
of  the  Pitti,  it  seemed  to  her  inexpressibly  cold  and 
dreary,  not  to  say  shabby,  and  Cheverney  says  that 
he  had  to  tell  her  several  times  that  it  really  was  the 
Louvre,  as  she  persisted  in  thinking  they  had  taken 
her  somewhere  else,  and  that  a  trick  was  being  played 
on  her.  It  must  be  remembered,  though,  that  since 
the  death  of  Henry  III.  the  Queen's  apartment  had 
been  uninhabited.  Such  as  it  was,  Marie  continued 
to  live  there  during  the  nine  years  that  elapsed  be- 
fore her  husband's  death. 

Henry  apparently  intended  to  make  Gabrielle 
d'Estrees  his  queen,  and  of  this  historical  surmise  a 
certain  amount  of  proof  is  afforded  by  the  presence  of 
the  interlaced  letters  H.  and  G.  in  the  ornamentations 
of  the  new  work  on  the  Louvre.  But  one  of  these 
monograms  was  found  by  M.  Duban  in  the  course  of 
his  careful  restorations.  It  is  on  the  fifth  arch  of  the 
north  fa§ade  of  the  Grande  Galerie,  where  it  had 
been  apparently  overlooked — all  the  others  had  dis- 
appeared. Who  destroyed  them  ?  The  stereotyped 
answer  to  that  is  "  The  Revolutionists,  who  in  July, 
1793,  effaced  everything  in  the  Louvre  that  suggested 


PARIS  UNDEK  HENRY  IV.  305 

royalty."  It  is  perfectly  true  that  a  great  many 
emblems  were  destroyed  then,  but  these  particular 
ones  had  been  out  of  existence  long  before.  It  was 
the  woman  who  became  Queen  instead  of  Gabrielle, 
Marie  do  Medicis,  who  had  them  erased.  Sauval,  in 
"  Les  Galanteries  des  Rois  de  France,"  states  this 
positively.  Speaking  of  Gabrielle,  then  become  the 
Duchess  of  Beaufort,  and  of  the  King,  he  says  :  "  He 
had  his  initial,  interlaced  with  that  of  the  Duchess, 
carved  in  the  palace  he  was  building  at  that  time  ; 
but  they  are  no  longer  to  be  found,  because  Marie  de 
Medicis  had  them  erased." 

In  addition  to  the  interest  attaching  to  this  record 
of  Henry  IV. 's  affection  for  Gabrielle,  it  gives  us  a 
valuable  date.  Since  it  must  have  been  cut  during 
the  lifetime  of  the  favorite,  that  is  before  April  10, 
1599,  it  proves  that  from  the  early  part  of  his  reign 
Henry  had  interested  himself  in  the  works  at  the 
Louvre,  especially  in  the  Grande  Galerie,  which  he 
completed,  carrying  it  on  from  the  point  where 
Catherine  de  Medicis  abandoned  it  to  the  line  of  the 
present  Rue  des  Tuileries.  The  other  gallery  that 
connected  it  with  the  pavilion  of  the  King,  called 
the  Petite  Galerie  (the  present  museum  of  ancient 
sculptures),  was  much  further  advanced,  practically 
finished,  in  fact,  being  the  most  complete  work  left 
at  the  Louvre  by  Catherine  de  Medicis.  This  gallery, 
with  its  Italian  terrace  (which  was  left  intact  until 
Henry  IV.  replaced  it  with  the   Galerie  des   Rois), 

20 


306  PARIS. 

with  its  wide  and  lofty  arcades,  its  pilasters,  its  in- 
crustations of  black  and  white  marble,  all  so 
thoroughly  Tuscan  in  style,  must  have  afforded  the 
old  Florentine  Queen  the  liveliest  satisfaction. 

Near  the  Petite  Galerie  on  the  southwest,  and  at 
the  eastern  end  of  the  present  Grande  Galerie,  stood 
a  house  called  de  I'Engin.  Cathei'ine  had  it  pulled 
down  and  built  on  the  site  a  single  large  hall, 
lighted  by  five  windows  similar  in  style  to  those 
of  the  new  Louvre  of  Lescot.  This  she  was  not 
able  to  finish,  and  the  whole  credit  has  been  given 
to  Henry  IV.  in  consequence,  though  he  only  com- 
pleted it. 

Henry  overlaid  the  walls  and  paved  the  floor  of 
this  hall  with  diff"erent  colored  marbles,  filled  it  Avith 
the  most  beautiful  statues  he  could  collect  from  his 
different  palaces — the  most  wonderful  was  the  Diana 
huntress,  which  he  brought  from  Fontainebleau — and 
when  by  these  means  he  had  produced  one  of  the 
most  magnificent  rooms  in  the  whole  Louvre,  he 
would  give  audiences  to  foreign  ambassadors  and  per- 
sons of  distinction  no  where  else.  It  pleased  the  King, 
in  fact,  to  have  it  called  the  "Ambassadors'  Chamber," 
but  its  other  name,  "  Salle  des  Antiques,"  was  the  one 
by  which  it  was  known  longest,  and  which,  indeed, 
it  might  well  have  continued  to  bear,  as  some  of  the 
finest  statues  (the  Augustus,  for  instance,  which 
earned  it  this  title)  are  still  there.  Finally,  the 
famous  "  Salon  Carre  "  of  to-day  is  made  by  throw- 


PARIS  UNDER  HENRY  IV.  307 

ing  into  one  the  two  stories  which  Henry  IV.   had 
built  above  this  hall. 

As  to  all  Catherine  de  Medieis'  scheme  for  a  sepa- 
rate Tuileries,  Henry  only  adopted  what  had  already 
been  begun ;  for  the  Tuileries  itself  he  contented 
himself  with  the  part  that  was  finished,  only  carry- 
ing it  on  down  to  the  quay  in  order  to  connect  it 
with  the  Grande  Galerie,  which  Avas  the  favorite  one 
among  all  his  projects.  As  to  the  famous  quadrangle, 
planned  by  Catherine,  he  made  no  attempt  whatever 
to  carry  it  out.  Was  his  idea  to  connect  the  two 
palaces  in  any  other  way  than  by  the  gallery  ?  So 
it  would  seem  ;  at  any  rate  Malherbe  points  to  it  in  a 
letter  of  January  20,  1608,  where,  after  saying  that 
the  rest  of  the  Hotel  de  Bourbon  was  to  be  pidled 
down,  he  adds,  "  Saint  Nicolas  and  Saint  Thomas  du 
Louvre  will  be  transported  there  so  as  to  clear  that 
space  between  the  Louvre  and  the  Tuileries."  There 
can  be  but  little  doubt  that  the  plan  was  to  convert 
this  "  space  "  into  a  great  garden,  Avhose  avenues  and 
shrubbery  should  form  a  continuation  (the  city  moat 
being  previously  filled  in)  to  the  great  parterre  which 
was  shortly  to  be  planted  before  the  eastern  facade 
of  the  Tuileries,  and  which  is  not  to  be  confounded 
with  the  park  on  the  other  side.  If  this  were  in- 
deed Henry  IV.'s  project,  he  was  never  able  to  re- 
alize it ;  Ravaillac's  dagger  cut  him  off"  too  soon. 
Thus  the  "  Great  Gallery  "  is  the  main  thing  that  he 
left  us  at  the  Louvre. 


308  PARIS. 

In  the  Temple  quarter  we  have  nothing  to  remark, 
save  that  another  of  Henry's  great  enterprises  was 
hkewise  checked  by  his  sudden  death.  This  was  the 
magnificent  Place  du  France,  which  he  proposed  lay- 
ing out  in  the  still  uninhabited  part  of  the  Culture 
du  Temple. 

As  for  the  Hotel  des  Tournelles,  it  was  more  or  less 
neglected,  being  only  iised  by  Henry  as  a  lodging 
for  a  colony  of  two  hundred  workmen,  whom  he 
had  brought  from  Italy  to  start  the  manufacture  of 
silk  stuffs,  shot  with  silver  and  gold  threads.  The 
quarter  in  which  it  stood,  however,  received  his  es- 
pecial attention. 

Towards  the  close  of  the  year  1604  letters-patent 
were  issued  to  the  effect  that  the  Treasurers  of 
France  were  to  assemble  at  "  a  place  called  the  pare 
des  Tournelles,''^  to  give  their  advice  on  the  subject 
of  a  concession  the  King  wished  to  make,  with  a 
view  to  establishing  a  manufactory  of  "  silk  worked 
with  silver,  as  it  is  in  Milan."  In  addition  to  the 
building— the  main  Aving  of  the  Hotel  des  Tournelles 
— the  King  granted  the  owners  of  the  proposed  manu- 
factory a  considerable  piece  of  ground  at  the  junction 
of  the  Rue  St.  Antoine,  on  Avhich  the  first  pavilion 
of  the  Place  Royale  was  to  be  erected.  The  King 
meaiitime  had  removed  the  horse-market  to  the  ex- 
tremity of  the  Faubourg  St.  Honore,  where  the  quar- 
tier  Gaillon  grew  up  later,  and  had  planned  the  en- 
tire   transformation   of  this    neighborhood,    through 


PARIS  UNDEK  HENRY  IV.  309 

which  he  was  obliged  to  pass  constantly  on  his  way 
to  and  from  the  Hotel  of  Sebastien  Zamet  and  the 
Arsenal,  where  Sully  was  established. 

His  intention  was  to  make  it  one  of  the  handsomest 
quartiers  of  Paris,  and  though  the  architect  who  had 
charge  of  the  work  is  not  positively  known,  there 
seems  little  doubt  that  it  was  Androuet  du  Cerceau, 
who,  moreover,  had  furnished  the  plans  for  Sull^^'s 
Hotel,  then  building  on  the  ground  close  by,  given 
him  by  the  King  ten  years  before. 

Although  du  Cerceau,  stern  and  inflexible  Huguenot 
that  he  was,  quitted  France  and  died  abroad  rather 
than  make  an  abjuration  as  his  august  master  had 
done,  this  last  thought  none  the  less  of  him  nor  of 
his  talent,  and  the  plans  for  the  Place  Royale  were 
exactly  carried  out;  the  King,  that  is,  erecting  at  his 
own  cost  the  side  backing  on  the  Hotel  Sully,  while 
the  ground  on  the  remaining  three  sides  was  given 
to  various  persons  of  the  court  free  of  charge,  on 
condition  that  they  should  erect  there,  with  as  little 
delay  as  possible,  buildings  corresponding  in  style 
and  design  to  the  first.  The  central  space  was  to  be 
left  open  for  a  pubHc  garden.  Letters-patent  of 
August  2,  1605,  order  that  the  place  formerly  called 
pare  des  Tournelles,  and  then  Marche  aux  Chevaux, 
shall  in  future  be  named  Place  Boyale.  Four  streets 
were  opened  at  the  same  time,  the  Grande  Rue  Roy- 
ale,  now  Rue  de  Birague,  on  the  south,  the  Rue  du 
Pare   Royal,  now  Rue  de  Beam,  on  the  north,  the 


310  PAEIS. 

Petite  Rue  Royal,  and  Rue  de  la  CovJture  Ste.  Cath- 
erine on  the  east  and  west,  which  are  now  merged 
into  one  street,  called  des  Francs  Bourgeois  and  des 
Vosges. 

The  first  parts  finished  were  the  two  great  pavil- 
ions in  the  centre  of  the  northern  and  southern 
facades,  called  respectively  Pavilion  du  Roi  and  de  la 
Reine.  On  the  ground  floor  of  each  of  these  was 
an  arcade  having  a  high  central  arch  flanked  by  two 
lower  ones  decorated  with  Doric  pilasters.  These 
two  main  pavilions,  as  wefl  as  the  thirty-six  smaller 
ones,  which,  precisely  alike,  and  placed  at  intervals 
all  around  the  place  so  as  to  form  an  arcade,  were 
constructed  of  brick  with  facings  and  trimmings  of 
white  stone,  their  three  stories  surmounted  by  a 
lofty  slate  roof  Avith  dormer  windows. 

Although  the  King  came  every  day,  when  he  was 
in  Paris,  to  stimulate  the  workmen  by  his  presence, 
and  when  he  was  away  wrote  constantly  to  Sully 
urging  him  to  push  the  Avork  as  rapidly  as  possible, 
the  Place  Royale  was  not  finished  at  the  time  of 
his  death  in  1610.  (It  is,  of  course,  the  square  now 
called  "  Place  des  Vosges.") 

Ever  since  Henry  II.'s  time  the  seat  of  the  Grand 
Master  of  the  Artillery  of  France  had  been  at  the 
Arsenal,  though  he  only  occasionally  occupied  the 
hotel  erected  by  Charles  IX.  When  Sully  held  this 
office,  while  Henry  IV.  interested  himself  in  enlarg- 
ing the  hotel,  laying  out  gardens,  and  even  building 


PARIS  UNDER  HENRY  IV.  311 

a  theatre  where  the  minister  could  amuse  himself, 
the  latter  was  bent  solely  on  finishing  the  maga- 
zines and  foundries,  and  on  arranging  for  the  manu- 
facture of  saltpetre — they  had  ceased  to  make  pow- 
der here,  it  being  considered  too  dangerous.  Before 
long  it  was  thought  wiser  to  transfer  the  saltpetre 
factory  as  well  to  an  outlying  point ;  it  was  accord- 
ingly established  on  the  opposite  bank  of  the  river, 
the  place  taking  the  name  of  the  Saltpetriere. 

The  Mimicipal  Council  of  Paris  watched  Avith  grow- 
ing uneasiness  the  unusual  activity  in  and  about  the 
Arsenal  under  Sully's  direction.  At  last,  when  a 
report  was  circulated  that  work  had  been  begun  on 
a  fortress  which  was  to  stand  between  the  Arsenal 
and  the  Seine,  and  not  only  cut  off  the  promenade  du 
Mail,  where  the  Parisians  were  fond  of  resorting  in 
fine  weather,  but  enclose  the  casemates,  where  the 
city  kept  the  great  iron  chains  for  shutting  off  the 
river,  they  became  thoroughly  alarmed  and  sent  the 
Provost  to  St.  Germain  to  remonstrate  with  the  King. 
Henry  met  them  the  next  day  with  the  smiling  as- 
surance that  they  were  needlessly  alarmed,  as  the 
only  building  he  proposed  to  erect  at  that  spot  was  a 
pavilion  where  he  could  rest  after  coming  out  of  his 
bath  and  before  taking  a  boat  for  the  Louvre.  This 
pavilion  was  not  built  till  nearly  nine  years  later  ;  it 
was  of  wood,  and  surmounted  a  part  of  the  Avail  of 
Charles  V.,  just  opposite  the  He  Louviers  ;  it  consisted 
of  a  large  room  opening  out  of  a  small  cabinet,  and 


312  PARIS. 

had  stairs  leading  down  to  the  water's  edge.  Here 
the  King  proposed  coming  occasionally  incognito,  to 
enjoy  at  once  the  society  of  the  Grand  Master  and 
freedom  from  court  etiquette  ;  and  although  his  death 
occurred  before  he  had  ever  been  able  to  carry  out 
his  intention,  it  always  went  by  the  name  of  the 
Cabinet  de  Henry  IV. 

On  the  day  following  Henry's  entry  into  Paris  the 
command  of  the  Bastille  had  been  given  to  Domi- 
nique de  Vic ;  he  was  succeeded  in  1601  by  Sully, 
who,  while  continuing  to  live  at  the  Arsenal,  had  the 
King's  treasure,  a  vast  sum  due  mainly  to  his  careful 
management,  transferred  to  the  Bastille  as  being  a 
safer  place  of  deposit. 

Another  event  of  the  23d  of  March,  1594,  was  the 
reception  by  Henry  at  the  Louvre  of  a  delegation 
headed  by  the  Prevot  des  Marchands,  who  came  to 
present  an  offering  of  sugar-plums  and  comfits  in 
sign  of  welcome,  and  incidentally  to  secure  the  good 
graces  of  the  King.  The  latter  Avas  only  half-dressed 
— the  zeal  of  "  Messieurs  de  I'Hotel  de  Ville  "  had 
brought  them  out  early — but  he  received  them  as  he 
was,  with  a  short  and  characteristic  speech.  "  Hier, 
je  re^us  vos  coeurs,  aujourdhui  je  ne  re^ois  pas  moins 
volontiers  vos  confitures,"  and,  what  Avas  more  to  the 
point,  he  shortly  reinstated  the  city  in  all  its  "rights  and 
privileges  "  lost  in  the  course  of  the  preceding  three 
years.  A  year  later  the  Hotel  de  Yille  was  put  in  pos- 
session of  one-half  the  confiscations  and  fines  due  the 


PARIS  UNDER  HENRY  IV.  313 

King  since  the  death  of  his  predecessor,  on  the  sole 
condition  that  the  money  should  be  used  for  the  bene- 
fit of  the  city  alone,  its  festivities,  and,  above  all,  its 
buildings  and  improvements. 

Of  these  last  the  most  pressing  Avas  the  completion 
of  the  Hotel  de  Ville,  where  work  had  been  abandoned 
for  ten  or  twelve  years.  Doniinico  Cortona's  plans 
were  carried  out,  but  the  building  was  not  finished 
until  1628.  Above  the  central  door,  replacing  the 
inscription  of  1533,  was  an  equestrian  statue  of  the 
King  in  bas-relief,  executed  by  Pierre  Biard. 

We  now  come  to  the  most  conspicuous  work  of 
Henry  lY.'s  reign — the  completion  of  the  Pont  Neuf 
— one  of  the  main  causes  of  his  popularity  at  the 
time  of  his  death.  So  soon  as  the  treaty  Avith  Spain 
was  concluded,  in  1598  that  is,  the  King  turned  his 
attention  to  this  business,  and  by  the  following  year 
Guillaume  Marchand  and  Francois  Petit,  who  were 
building  it  under  the  direction  of  the  architect  Claude 
de  Chastillon,  had  completed  the  part  over  the  south- 
ern arm  of  the  river  leading  from  the  Quai  des  Augus- 
tins  to  the  Island ;  but  the  most  important  part  still 
remained  to  be  done.  As  we  mentioned  in  the  last 
chapter,  the  main  arm  of  the  river  could  show  noth- 
ing as  yet  but  some  rows  of  piles  sticking  out  of  the 
water.  Petit  and  Marchand  said  they  must  have  for 
this  work  sixty  thousand  ecus  and  three  years'  time. 

At  first  the  King  tried  to  raise  the  money  by  using 
the  proceeds  from  a  tax  on  wine,  usually  applied  to 


314  PAEIS. 

keeping  the  public  fountains  in  repair,  but  that  prov- 
ing insufficient,  he  made  up  the  amount  himself,  and 
by  the  end  of  the  allotted  time  it  was  possible  (to  be 
sure  Avith  some  risk)  to  cross  the  entire  length  of  the 
bridge.  The  King,  always  adventurous,  promptly 
tried  it,  and  L'Estoile  writes  in  his  journal,  under 
date  of  Friday,  June  20,  1603,  "  The  King  crossed 
from  the  Quai  des  Augustins  to  the  Louvre  on  the 
Pont  Neuf,  which  is  not  too  secure  as  yet,  and  which 
very  few  persons  dare  to  try.  Some  of  those  who 
made  the  attempt  got  their  necks  broken  and  fell  into 
the  river ;  when  this  was  told  his  Majesty,  he  answered 
(so  they  say)  that  ^  there  was  not  one  among  them 
who  was  a  King,'  as  he  was."  The  reign  of  Henry 
IV.  saw  the  completion  of  the  Pont  Neuf  and  the 
beginning  of  the  Place  Dauphine.  The  King  con- 
sidered the  bridge  iniiinished  so  long  as  it  lacked  a 
wide  open  space  at  the  point  of  its  junction  with  the 
He  de  la  Cite ;  he  also  wished  to  have  a  pump  con- 
structed that  should  be  at  once  an  ornament  and  serve 
to  increase  the  water-supply  of  the  Louvre  and  the 
Tuileries.  Messieurs  de  la  Ville  objected  to  this  that 
it  would  interfere  with  the  course  of  the  river ;  but, 
the  King  paying  not  the  slightest  attention  to  their 
remonstrances,  the  pump  was  begun  first,  the  Flem- 
ing Lintlaer  having  charge  of  the  work. 

Between  1605  and  1608  the  mill  connected  with 
its  machinery  was  set  up  in  the  second  arch  on  the 
Louvre  side.      Great  interest  and  excitement  on  the 


PAEIS  UNDER  HENRY  IV.        815 

part  of  the  public.  "  The  water  from  the  pump  on 
the  Pont  Neuf  is  at  the  Tuileries !"  writes  Malherbe 
triumphantly,  on  October  3,  1608.  But  the  great 
ornament  of  the  Bridge  and  Place  Dauphine  was  to 
be  the  equestrian  statue  of  Henry  IV.  In  1604, 
Franqueville,  ^'premier  sculpteur  du  roi/'  was  or- 
dered to  make  a  small  model,  which  was  then  sent 
to  Florence,  where  it  was  to  be  executed  in  full 
size  by  John  of  Bologna  and — an  operation  that 
at  that  date  could  only  be  carried  out  by  Italian 
artists — cast  in  bronze.  John  of  Bologna  died  in 
1608,  leaving  it  unfinished — he  had  started  with  the 
horse,  begun  for  another  statue — and  Pietro  Tacca, 
his  best  scholar,  carried  on  the  work ;  but  when 
Henry  was  killed  it  was  still  far  from  completed. 

Although  the  Grand  Duke,  cousin  of  the  Queen, 
urged  Tacca  to  get  it  done,  and  the  Queen  supplied 
him  liberally  with  money,  "  thirty  thousand  ecus  out 
of  her  own  pocket,"  says  Bassompierre,  it  was  not 
ready  to  ship  until  1613. 

The  Colosse  da  Grand  Roy  Henry ,  as  it  was  called, 
weighing  about  12,400  pounds,  was  transported  in 
the  end  of  April  to  Leghorn,  where  the  Chevalier 
Pescolini,  and  the  engineer  Antonio  Guide,  embarked 
with  it  for  France.  The  plan  was  to  go  by  way  of 
Gibraltar  to  Havre,  where  the  statue  was  to  be  put 
on  a  flat-bottomed  boat  and  towed  up  to  Paris.  Un- 
fortunately the  vessel  foundered  off  the  coast  of  Sar- 
dinia, the  "  Colosse  "  capsized  in   the   mud,  and  was 


316  PARIS. 

with  the  greatest  difficulty  raised  and  placed  on  board 
another  ship.  This  accident,  and  a  number  of  others 
which  cannot  be  enumerated  here,  caused  so  much 
delay  that  it  was  more  than  a  year  after  they  left 
Leghorn,  in  the  early  part  of  May,  that  is,  that 
Pescolini  and  Guido  at  last  reached  Havre  with  their 
charge. 

Pescolini  hurried  at  once  to  Paris  with  the  news, 
and  a  temporary  pedestal  was  forthwith  raised  on  the 
Place  Dauphine  to  support  the  King  and  his  charger  ; 
but  it  was  still  some  months  before  the  statue  could  be 
set  up,  and  the  Queen  with  the  young  King  had  mean- 
while been  called  away  from  the  Capital.  Orders 
were  given,  however,  not  to  delay  the  ceremony 
already  so  long  expected ;  it  was  hoped,  too,  that  the 
sight  might  revive  a  little  of  the  popularity  of  the 
father  in  favor  of  the  son,  who  just  then  stood  some- 
what in  need  of  it.  On  the  twenty-third  of  August 
accordingly  it  took  place  in  the  presence  of  the  two 
Provosts,  the  Sheriffs,  the  First  President  and  the 
Treasurers-General  of  France.  A  full  account  of  the 
proceedings  was  found  beneath  one  of  the  feet  of  the 
horse  when  the  statue  was  overturned  in  1792. 

Malherbe,  writing  in  1607  of  Paris,  says  :  "  The 
greatest  changes  are  in  I'lle  du  Palais,  where  they 
are  making  two  new  quays,  one  connecting  the  Pont 
Neuf  with  the  Pont  aux  Meuniers,  and  the  other  con- 
necting it  with  the  Pont  St.  Michel;  and  on  this 
same  Island  they  are  opening  a  Place  to  be  called,  it 


PARIS  UNDER  HENRY  IV.  317 

is  said,  the  Place  Dauphine,  Avhich  is  to  be  very 
beautiful  and  much  more  frequented  than  the  Place 
Royale." 

The  King  had,  in  fact,  relinquished  a  considerable 
part  of  the  Palais  garden  for  this  purpose.  The 
plans  were  prepared  by  the  Grand  Master  Sully : 
there  were  to  be  three  rows  of  three-story  brick 
houses  all  alike,  in  the  form  of  a  trapeze,  the  point 
opening  on  the  bridge  and  the  base  through  the 
centre  on  a  street  which  was  to  run  between  the 
Palais  and  the  Place,  and  be  called,  after  the  first 
President,  the  Rue  de  Harlay. 

Fran9ois  Petit,  who  was  charged  with  the  execu- 
tion of  these  plans,  had  only  to  copy  the  style  of  the 
buildings  on  the  Place  Royale  going  up  at  the  same 
time,  which  those  of  the  Place  Dauphine  were  to  re- 
semble. 

What  was  left  of  the  King's  garden  after  the  Rue 
de  Harlay  was  opened  was  reserved  henceforth  to 
the  First  President — it  comprehended  only  that  part 
hitherto  called  "  Jardin  du  Bailliage  "  from  the  old 
"  Hotel  of  the  Bailiffs,"  which  it  adjoined. 

On  the  other  side  of  the  Palais,  at  the  corner  of 
the  Rues  de  la  Barillerie  and  de  la  Vieille-Draperie 
— that  is,  opposite  the  present  entrance  to  the  Cour 
du  Mai — stood  a  monument  called  La  Pyramide, 
erected  by  the  city  and  Parliament  to  commemorate 
the  attempt  on  Henry  IV. 's  life  by  Jean  Chastel.  It 
stood  on  the  site  of  the  house  formerly  occupied  by 


318  PAKIS. 

the  young  man's  father,  who,  implicated  in  the  crime, 
forfeited  all  his  possessions.  The  name  of  Pyramid 
was  entirely  inappropriate ;  the  monument  consisted 
of  a  sort  of  four-sided  portico,  with  emblematic 
statues  at  the  corners,  surmounted  by  a  cross.  The 
base  was  covered  Math  inscriptions  in  Latin  and 
French,  and  the  sentence,  Avhich  included  the  Jesuits 
as  having  been  instigators  and  parties  to  the  crime, 
was  set  forth  at  length.  The  King  had  the  whole 
thing  demolished  in  1605,  eight  years  after  the  at- 
tempted assassination. 

The  Pont  aux  Meuniers,  which  started  from  a 
point  a  little  west  of  the  Pont  au  Change,  had  long 
been  in  a  somewhat  unsafe  condition  ;  it  was  carried 
away  in  an  inundation  in  1596,  with  great  loss  of  life. 
Rebuilt  in  1608  in  wood,  it  was  sometimes  called  Pont 
Marchand,  from  the  name  of  the  architect,  Avho  also 
paid  the  cost  of  construction,  and  sometimes  Pont  aux 
Oiseaux,  from  the  bird  painted  as  a  sign  above  the 
door  of  each  house.  It  was  burned  in  1621  and 
never  rebuilt. 

The  great  w^ork  planned  by  Henry  IV.  on  the  left 
bank  of  the  river  was  unfortunately  interrupted  by 
his  death.  Francis  I.  had  been  the  first  to  endow  a 
college  intended  purely  for  the  advancement  of  knowl- 
edge ;  the  other  colleges,  strewn  so  thickly  up  the 
slopes  of  the  Montague  Ste.  Genevieve,  taught  sci- 
ence as  it  was  already  known,  exact,  bearing  the 
stamp  and  seal  of  the  great  scholars.      The  College 


PARIS  UNDER  HENRY  IV.  319 

du  France  had  for  its  main  object  the  study  of  open 
questions  and  the  making  of  new  discoveries.  Until 
Henry  II. 's  time  there  were  no  special  buildings  set 
apart  for  its  use,  the  teachers  holding  their  classes 
about,  now  in  one  place  and  now  in  another.  Then 
the  adjoining  Colleges  of  Treguier  and  Cambrai  were 
assigned  to  them,  and  under  Henry  IV.  arrangements 
were  made  for  the  erection  of  a  really  splendid  build- 
ing. The  plans  were  made  and  the  work  just  about 
beginning  when  the  King  was  killed.  As,  however, 
Marie  de  Medicis  and  her  successors  continued  it  on 
the  same  general  plan,  it  may  be  considered  as  one 
of  the  results  of  that  short  and  brilliant  reign. 

In  connection  with  the  University  it  is  interesting 
to  note  that  in  the  sixteenth  century  three  scholars 
attended  the  same  classes  in  the  Hotel  de  Navarre 
(the  site  of  the  present  Ecole  Polytechnique),  the 
young  Duke  of  Anjou,  later  Henry  III.,  the  Prince 
de  Beam — Henry  IV. — and  their  common  enemy, 
Henry  of  Guise.  All  three  of  them  received  the 
visit  made  there  by  Charles  IX.  in  1568. 

Henry  IV.  made  an  attempt  to  enter  Paris  by  the 
Porte  St.  Germain  in  1589  ;  he  got  possession  of  the 
Faubourg,  but  the  gate,  although  barricaded  in  great 
haste,  held  out.  L'Estoile  tells  how  the  King  went  up 
to  the  top  of  the  tower  of  St.  Germain  des  Pres  to 
get  a  view  of  Paris,  accompanied  only  by  a  monk, 
and  how  when  he  came  down  he  said  to  the  Marechal 
de  Biron  that  a  sudden  dread  had  seized  him  on  find- 


320  PARIS. 

ing  himself  up  there  all  alone  with  that  monk,  think- 
ing of  brother  Clement's  knife. 

In  1606  Marguerite  of  Valois,  Henry's  first  wife, 
decided  to  have  a  palace  of  her  own  directly  opposite 
the  Louvre.  She  accordingly  bought  some  land  be- 
longing to  the  Grand  and  Petit  Pres  aux  Clercs,  and 
built  a  great  hotel,  opening  on  the  Rue  de  Seine  and 
reaching  to  the  Quai  ]\Ialaquais,  called  then  Quai  de  la 
Reine  Marguerite.  The  gardens  and  great  unen- 
closed park  of  this  hotel  reached  beyond  the  line  of 
the  present  Rue  du  Bac,  the  wide  avenues  being 
traced  to-day  by  the  Rues  de  Lille  and  de  Verneuil 
and  the  Quays  Malaquais  and  Voltaire.  This  park, 
thrown  open  to  the  public  as  was  so  frequently  done 
by  large  householders  of  that  day,  soon  became  the 
favorite  resort  of  the  inhabitants  of  the  Faubourg  St. 
Germain,  and  suggested  the  idea  of  the  Cours  de  la 
Reine,  opened  later  on  the  opposite  bank  of  the  river, 
the  origin  of  the  Champs  Elysees. 

With  this  we  have  touched  on  nearly  all  that  Avas 
actually  accomplished  in  Henry's  reign,  but  Ave  shall 
see  in  the  next  chapter  that  very  many  of  the  great 
things  done  under  Louis  XHI.  drew  their  inspiration, 
and  sometimes  their  plans  and  origin,  from  the  time 
of  his  father. 


THE  SEVENTEENTH  CENTURY,  1610  TO  1661.     321 


CHAPTER    VII  I. 

THE  SEVENTEENTH  CENTURY,  FROM  1610  TO  1661. 

Paris  in  the  generation  immediately  succeeding 
Henry  IV.  saw  the  beginning  of  the  change  that 
entirely  transformed  her  outward  aspect.  The  period 
of  the  great  cardinals,  the  few  years  that  saw  in  Eng- 
land the  victory  of  the  upper  class  over  the  Crown, 
saw  in  France  the  victory  of  the  Crown  over  the 
whole  State.  It  is  to  that  common  origin  that  you  may 
trace  the  English  polity  of  to-day,  aristocratic  and 
jealous  of  local  liberties,  and  the  French  polity,  cen- 
tralized and  egalitarian. 

The  prodigious  work,  however,  with  which  stand 
associated  the  names  of  Mazarin  and  Richelieu,  does 
not  affect  Paris  as  we  might  imagine  it  would.  You 
do  not  get  a  town  or  a  palace  which  are  by  their 
mere  outward  aspect  the  centre  of  a  great  state. 
Versailles  was  such  a  palace,  modern  Paris  is  such  a 
town.  The  Louvre  and  the  Tuileries  and  the  city 
of  the  great  cardinals  feels  the  period  indirectly  only, 
but  the  effect  is  very  marked.  It  does  not  become 
grandiose,  but  it  knows  every  part  of  itself.  This 
change  in  Paris  of  the  fifteenth  century  may  be  com- 
pared to  the  new  fashion  in  clothing,  or  to  the  new 

style  in  literature  that  will  come  in  with  some  new 

21 


322  PARIS. 

era  of  civilization — a  fashion  and  a  style  often  inferior 
to  the  spirit  which  is  moving  an  epoch — and  which 
will  only  have  its  final  effect  at  a  much  later  time. 

In  a  word,  Paris  is  changed  from  the  half-Gothic, 
half-renaissance  place  that  it  Avas.  into  a  uniform  city 
of  high  houses,  steeply  pitched  roofs — all  that  we  see 
in  the  old  quarters  to-day.  A  new  style  has  appeared 
which  remains  untouched  until  the  eighteenth  century, 
and  of  which  even  our  modern  architecture  is  but  a 
development. 

There  is  one  quarter  of  Paris  left  in  which  the 
traveller  may  realize  for  himself  what  this  period  did. 
It  is  the  He  St.  Louis  behind  Notre  Dame.  Here  there 
is  practically  no  change,  and  in  the  great  height  of  the 
old  houses  in  the  narrow  but  straight  streets,  the  mo- 
notonous windows,  the  paved  quays,  you  have  remain- 
ing a  pure  portion  of  the  time.  There  it  had  a  fresh 
field  to  work  upon,  and  there  it  has  left  an  example 
of  its  effect  which,  from  the  size  and  locality  of  the 
Island,  will  probably  be  for  many  years  a  Avell-pre- 
served  relic  of  the  days  that  saw  the  consolidation 
of  the  monarchy. 

Turning  to  the  Hotel  de  Ville,  we  find  it  still  un- 
finished at  the  time  of  Henry  IV. 's  death.  In  1613 
the  belfry  was  completed  and  the  great  bell — pitched 
on  a  lower  key  to  distinguish  it  from  the  one  at  the 
Palais — hung.  From  thenceforth  on  the  birth  of  a 
Dauphin  this  bell  was  rung  for  three  consecutive 
days   and  nights.      Finally,  with   the   completion   in 


THE  SEVENTEENTH  CENTURY,  1610  TO  1661.  323 

1628  of  the  Pavilion  de  St.  Esprit,  the  work  may  be 
said  to  have  come  to  an  end. 

Under  Louis  XIII.  the  history  of  the  Place  de 
Greve  may  be  briefly  summed  up  in  the  words : 
Fetes  and  Executions,  the  former  usually  planned  by 
the  King  and  the  latter  by  Richelieu.  The  Cardinal, 
however,  was  not  responsible  for  the  first  and  most 
terrible  of  these,  the  execution,  that  is,  of  Ravaillac, 
mutilated,  tortured,  and  torn  apart  on  the  27th  of 
May,  1610,  just  thirteen  days  after  the  assassination 
of  Henry. 

The  only  act  of  Louis  XIII. 's  reign  which  in  any 
way  affected  the  architecture  of  the  Place  de  Greve 
w^as  the  laying  of  the  corner-stone  of  a  fountain  which 
stood  for  fifty  years  or  so  near  its  centre,  and  Avas 
supplied  from  the  new  aqueduct  of  Arcueil,  finished 
about  1624. 

The  Hotel  de  Ville  narrowly  escaped  destruction 
in  the  riots  of  July  4,  1652,  when  the  mob  set  fire 
to  the  doors  during  a  sitting  of  the  Council.  The 
fire  burned  from  six  o'clock  in  the  evening  until  nine 
o'clock  the  next  morning.  The  Grand  Salle  of 
Henry  II.,  the  windows  and  doors  on  the  Place  de 
Greve,  and  the  mounted  figure  of  Henry  IV.  over 
the  principal  entrance,  were  seriously  injured,  while 
the  attempt  made  by  the  sculptor's  son,  Biard  jilsj  to 
restore  the  bas-relief  of  the  King  only  completed  its 
ruin. 

The  building  made  a  still  narrower  escape  four 


324  PARIS. 

years  earlier,  on  the  27th  of  August,  la  journce  des 
Barricades,  when  the  Governor  of  the  Bastille,  Le- 
clerc  du  Tremblay,  trained  his  cannon  on  it,  and 
stood  by  with  his  men  holding  lighted  wicks,  only 
awaiting  a  word  from  the  Court  to  bombard  it. 
Throughout  the  Fronde  the  Bastille  continued  to 
play  an  important  part,  and  it  was  by  the  Porte  St. 
Antoine,  opened  to  them  through  the  influence  of 
Mademoiselle  Montpensier,  daughter  of  the  Duke  of 
Orleans,  that  Conde's  men  entered  like  victors,  headed 
by  Conde  himself,  while  the  guns  of  the  Bastille,  di- 
rected, it  is  said,  by  Mademoiselle  again,  held  the 
royal  army  in  check. 

The  gateway  of  St.  Antoine  w^as  restored  and  or- 
namented wdth  statues  for  the  entrance  of  Louis  XIV. 
The  triumphal  arch,  which  had  been  erected  a  little 
beyond  the  gate  for  the  entrance  of  Henry  III.,  was 
reconstructed  by  Blondel  with  great  tact  and  success. 
In  speaking  of  this  work  he  says  :  "  As  they  wished 
to  preserve  the  old  archway  on  account  of  Jean 
Goujon's  bas-reliefs,  I  could  think  of  no  better  way 
than  to  make  two  new  archways,  one  on  either  side." 
These  bas-reliefs  were  removed  later  to  the  gateway 
of  the  Jardin  de  Beaumarchais,  and  then,  after  sun- 
dry w^anderings,  to  the  Hotel  de  Cluny,  where  they 
may  still  be  seen  in  the  garden. 

The  great  gate,  ornamented  with  elaborate  sculp- 
tures by  Franyois  d'Anguier  and  Van  Opstal,  was 
only  finished  in  1672,  its  Latin  inscriptions  recalling 


THE  SEVENTEENTH  CENTURY,  1610  TO  1661.     325 

that  it  Avas  erected  by  the  Prevot  des  Marchands  and 
sheriffs  in  memory  of  the  entry  of  Louis  XIV.  and 
Maria  Theresa,  and  of  the  "  fortunate  peace  which 
their  marriage  had  just  given  to  France  under  the 
auspices  of  Cardinal  Mazarin." 

The  Bastille  hard  by  was  approached  by  two  draw- 
bridges, then  came  a  great  oak  door  faced  with  iron, 
and  a  heavy  wooden  grating,  kept  barred  and  bolted 
until  all  new-comers  had  been  thoroughly  scanned  by 
the  captain  of  the  guard  in  charge  of  the  gate. 
Between  the  two  inner  courts,  the  Conr  cfHonneur 
and  the  Cour  des  Cuisines,  Louis  XIV.  erected  a 
three-storied  building  for  the  Governor  of  the  Prison 
and  various  other  officials.  So  bad  was  the  ventilation, 
however,  between  those  towering  walls  of  masonry, 
so  stifling  the  heat  in  summer,  and  so  penetrating 
the  cold  and  damp  in  winter,  that  before  very  long 
the  Governor  remonstrated,  and  a  hotel  was  built  for 
him  outside  the  enclosure ;  the  apartments  thus  left 
vacant  were  used  for  a  certain  class  of  distinguished 
prisoners,  placed  by  their  families  under  the  care  of 
the  King — either  for  safety  or  by  way  of  punishment 
— and  for  sick  prisoners  who  had  obtained  permis- 
sion to  be  attended  at  their  own  expense  and  out  of 
their  cells. 

The  Court  of  Honor  communicated  directly  by 
means  of  six  stairways  with  the  towers  called  respec- 
tively la  Liberte,  la  Bertaudiere,  la  Bazeniere,  la 
Comte,  du  Tresor,  and  la  Chapelle.      The  two  others. 


326  PAKis. 

the  Tour  du  Puits  and  the  Tour  du  Coin,  opened  on 
to  the  Cour  des  Cuisines,  where  the  air  was  always 
heavy  with  smoke  and  infected  with  the  smell  of 
dirty  water  and  offal.  In  this  horrible  Tour  du  Puits 
were  lodged  the  turnkeys  and  lower  grades  of  ser- 
vants. With  the  exception  of  a  small  chapel  on  the 
first  floor  of  the  Tour  de  la  Liberte,  and  a  torture- 
chamber  stripped  of  its  appliances,  when  torture 
was  abolished  in  the  reign  of  Louis  XVI.,  there  were 
now  nothing  but  prisons  in  the  Bastille;  beneath  all 
but  two  of  the  eight  towers  were  horrible  under- 
ground dungeons,  damp,  fetid,  and  overrun  with  rats 
and  vermin ;  these  were  abandoned,  except  in  some 
extraordinary  cases,  by  the  middle  of  the  eigh- 
teenth century.  The  towers  had  one  large,  semi- 
circular prison  on  each  floor,  capable  of  accommoda- 
ting a  number  of  inmates  at  once,  and  although  bit- 
terly cold  at  one  time  and  suffocatingly  hot  at  another, 
they  were  at  least  habitable.  Pierre  de  la  Porte, 
Anne  of  Austria's  cloak-bearer,  has  left  a  description 
in  his  memoirs  of  the  dungeon  where  he  was  confined 
in  the  Bastille  by  Richelieu,  whose  suspicions  he  had 
in  some  manner  aroused  ;  he  says  that  the  furniture 
consisted  only  of  a  straw  mattress  for  the  soldier  who 
was  shut  up  with  him,  and  a  folding  bed  for  himself. 
From  the  Bastille  Register  we  learn  some  meagre 
details  of  the  arrival  there  of  the  mysterious  "  Man 
with  the  Iron  Mask,"  and  of  his  death  five  years 
later.     Under  date  of  Thursday,  September  18,  1698, 


THE  SEVENTEENTH  CENTURY,  1610  TO  1661.     327 

we  are  told  that  M.  de  Saint  Mars,  the  new  Governor 
of  the  Bastille,  had  arrived,  bringing  with  him  a 
prisoner  from  Pignerol,  who  was  masked.  Imme- 
diately on  alighting,  the  prisoner  was  taken  to  a 
room  on  the  ground  floor  of  the  Tour  Bazeniere, 
and  kept  there  until  9  o'clock  at  night,  when  he  was 
conducted  to  a  room  in  the  Tour  Bertaudiere,  which 
had  been  made  ready  for  him. 

The  register  of  November  19,  1703,  states  that 
the  "  unknown  prisoner,  who  still  wears  a  velvet 
mask,  as  he  did  when  M.  de  Saint  IVIars  brought  him 
from  the  Isles  Ste.  Marguerite,  having  felt  unwell 
since  yesterday,  died  as  he  was  coming  from  the 
mass.  *  *  *  He  was  buried,  under  the  name  of  M. 
de  Marchiali,  in  the  Cemetery  of  St.  Paul." 

A  protege  of  the  Queen-Mother,  Gaspard  Fieubet, 
who  became  Councillor  under  Louis  XIV.,  built 
the  Hotel  on  the  corner  of  the  Quai  des  Celestins  and 
the  Rue  du  Petit-Musc,  which,  though  altered  by 
the  addition  of  a  quantity  of  sculptures,  is  still  stand- 
ing. Fieubet,  who  was  a  friend  of  la  Fontaine,  and 
something  of  a  poet  himself,  opened  his  house  to  the 
literary  men  of  the  day,  his  receptions  rivalling  even 
the  Saturdays  of  Mile,  de  Scudery. 

Shortly  after  the  death  of  Henry  IV.  Sully,  utterly 
out  of  sympathy  with  the  policy  of  the  regent,  retired 
from  office  ;  but  the  Arsenal,  though  shorn  of  most  of 
its  privileges,  continued  to  be  the  residence  of  the 
Grand  Master  of  Artillery.     Louis  XIII. ,  in  spite  of 


328  PAEIS. 

vigorous  protests  from  the  Parliament,  established  an 
independent  tribunal  there,  dealing  particularly  with 
the  trial  and  punishment  of  counterfeiters.  Here 
took  place  the  trial  of  Nicolas  Fouquet,  Superintend- 
ent of  Finances  under  Louis  XIV.  The  ladies  of  the 
Court,  with  whom  he  was  a  great  favorite,  used  to 
stand  at  the  windows  of  a  house  overlooking  the 
Arsenal  to  watch  the  prisoner  on  his  w^ay  to  and  from 
the  Bastille,  where  he  was  confined.  "  When  I  saw 
him,"  Avrites  Mme.  de  Sevigne  to  M.  de  Pomponne, 
"  my  knees  shook  and  my  heart  beat  so  that  I  could 
scarcely  stand.  *  *  *  M.  d'Artagnon  touched  him 
and  pointed  us  out,  and  he  bowed  to  us  with  that 
same  smiling  air  you  know  so  well." 

Claude  de  Boisleve,  Commissioner  of  the  Treasury, 
was  involved  in  Fouquet's  downfall,  and  his  Hotel  on 
the  Rue  de  la  Culture  Ste.  Catherine,  being  sold  to  a 
Counsellor  of  Parliament,  one  Gaspard  de  Gillier. 
Mme.  de  Sevigne  took  it  and  lived  there  from  1677 
to  her  death  in  1696;  the  street  is  now  Rue  de  Se- 
vigne. This  Hotel  had  been  begun  by  Pierre  Lescot 
for  President  Ligneris.  Jean  Goujon  executed  the 
sculptures  on  the  porte  cochere  as  Avell  as  those  on  the 
entablature  of  the  main  wing,  and  the  eight  figures  in 
high  relief  in  the  courtyard,  representing  the  signs 
of  the  zodiac.  The  death  of  Lescot  interrupted  the 
work,  but  it  was  finished  later  by  Bullant  and  du 
Cerceau  on  the  original  plans  ;  it  took  the  name  it 
still  bears — Carnavalet — when  Frangoise  de  la  Baume, 


THE  SEVENTEENTH  CENTURY,  1610  TO  1661.  329 

dame  de  Carnavalet,  bought  it  in  1578.  Fran9ois 
Mansard,  to  whom  was  given  the  task  of  restoring 
and  enlarging  it  by  the  Boisleve  family  in  1662, 
insisted  upon  preserving,  as  far  as  possible,  the  style 
of  its  architecture,  declaring  that  this  Palace  was,  in 
his  opinion,  the  chef-d'oeuvre  of  Lescot  and  BuUant. 
This  did  not  prevent  its  being  used  under  the  Restora- 
tion for  the  school  of  bridges  and  highways,  and,  worse 
still,  at  a  later  period  as  a  boys'  boarding-school. 
Under  M.  Haussmann  the  building  was  bought  by  the 
city,  restored  and  fitted  up  for  its  present  purpose — a 
Musce  de  la  Ville. 

When  the  Duke  de  la  Meilleraie  was  Grand  Master 
of  Artillery,  his  wife,  Marie  de  Cosse-Brissac,  had  the 
^^  Cabinet,"  built  by  Sully  for  Henry  IV.,  decorated 
with  paintings  either  by  Simon  Vouet  or  Claude 
Vignon,  to  which  tlie  Duchess  of  Maine  added,  about 
fifty  years  later,  a  portrait  of  herself  in  the  guise  of 
a  Nymph,  painted  over  the  chimney-place  by  Van- 
loo.  These  paintings,  covered  by  book-shelves  when 
the  Marquis  de  Paulmy,  more  interested  in  books 
than  in  guns,  turned  the  Arsenal  into  a  library,  re- 
mained hidden  and  forgotten  for  more  than  a  hundred 
years,  to  issue  forth  fresh  as  when  they  were  painted, 
in  our  own  century.  They  may  be  seen  to-day  in 
the  Bibliotheque  de  1' Arsenal,  the  Cabinet  de  Henri 
IV.  having  been  preserved  almost  intact  in  the  re- 
construction of  the  building. 

The  Place  Royale  (now  Place  des  Vosges),  begun 


330  PAEIS. 

by  Henry  IV.  in  1615,  was  only  finished  in  time  for 
the  festivities  given  to  celebrate  the  marriages  of  his 
son  and  daughter.  These  made  it  a  fashionable 
neighborhood,  and  we  find  some  of  the  most  promi- 
nent nobles  occupying  Hotels  there.  Marion  de 
Lorme  spent  the  last  years  of  her  life  in  the  pavilion 
of  Marshal  de  Lavardin,  bought  for  her  by  the  Duke 
de  la  Meilleraie.  Sauval  tells  how  her  body,  placed 
on  a  magnificent  bier,  lay  in  state  for  twenty-four 
hours  in  the  Place  Roy  ale,  "  as  though  she  had  been 
renowned  for  her  virtues,"  It  was  also  a  favorite 
spot  for  duels  ;  they  are  described  as  taking  place  at 
all  hours  of  the  day  and  night.  Louis  XIII.,  deter- 
mined to  break  up,  if  possible,  a  custom  that  Avas  gain- 
ing ground  with  alarming  rapidity,  made  duelling  a 
capital  offence  ;  notwithstanding  which,  on  the  12th 
of  May,  1627,  six  gentlemen  of  the  Court  met,  three 
against  three,  at  two  o'clock  in  the  afternoon,  while 
the  windows  and  balconies  of  the  surrounding  houses 
were  thronged  with  spectators,  as  though  it  had  been 
a  theatrical  entertainment.  Two  of  the  combatants 
overtaken  on  their  subsequent  flight  to  England  were, 
in  fact,  put  to  death.  The  last  duel,  as  well  as  the 
most  celebrated  that  took  place  here,  was  fought  by 
the  Duke  of  Guise  and  the  Count  de  Coligny  in  1643; 
it  resulted  in  the  exile  of  the  first  and  the  death  of 
the  second  from  his  wounds. 

Richelieu  placed  a  bronze  equestrian  statue  of  the 
King  in  the  centre  of  the  Place  Royale,  ostensibly  as 


THE  SEVENTEENTH  CENTURY,  1610  TO  1661.  331 

a  memorial  of  his  efforts  to  break  up  duelling.  The 
statue  was  executed  by  Biard  the  younger,  while  the 
horse  was  one  that  had  been  made  in  the  reign  of 
Henry  II.  by  the  Italian,  Daniel  Ricciarelli,  and  never 
used  I  the  pompous  Latin  inscription  on  the  base  was 
composed  principally  of  allusions  to  the  Cardinal  him- 
self. This  monument  was  among  the  first  to  be  over- 
thrown in  the  Revolution,  and  like  its  fellows  was 
melted  down  for  guns. 

We  must  not  leave  the  Place  Royale  and  the  Marais 
without  reminding  the  reader  that  this  neighborhood 
was  for  many  years  the  headquarters  of  the  new 
Precieuses,  who  had  followed  Mile,  de  Scudery  and 
a  few  other  of  the  choice  spirits  Avho  had  been  wont 
to  cluster  around  the  Hotel  de  Rambouillet  in  the  Rue 
St.  Thomas  du  Louvre.  Some  of  these  settled  in  the 
Place  Royale,  others  in  the  fine  Hotels  of  the  Quartier 
du  Marais,  and  for  thirty  years  Mile,  de  Scudery, 
from  her  little  house  in  the  Rue  de  Beauce,  presided 
over  a  society  which,  if  bourgeois,  was  none  the  less 
composed  of  some  of  the  most  brilliant  intellects  of  the 
Capital.  Moliere  moved  his  lUustre  Theatre  to  the 
Arsenal  Quartier  in  1645,  and  was  thus  enabled  to 
make  that  careful  study  of  the  Precieuses  of  the 
Marais  which  resulted  in  Les  Precieuses  Ridicules. 
With  Ninon  de  I'Enclos,  who  died  in  her  house  in  the 
Rue  des  Tournelles  in  1706,  the  last  Prccieuse  passed 
away. 

The   fine  wrought-iron    grating,   paid    for  by  the 


332  PARIS. 

property  owners,  which  once  surrounded  the  garden 
of  the  Place  Royale  was  removed  in  1841  on  the 
pretence  that  it  was  too  high  and  heavy.  Victor 
Hugo,  then  living  there,  tried  hard  to  save  a  thing 
that  even  the  Revolution  had  spared,  but  without 
success ;  it  was  replaced  by  one  of  modern  style  and 
workmanship. 

The  Temple  meanwhile  had  undergone  a  complete 
metamorphosis  in  both  habit  and  appearance.  The 
towers,  walls  and  some  of  the  old  buildings  were  still 
standing,  but  from  the  time  of  Henry  IV.,  when  the 
ancient  constructions  began  to  fall  into  ruins,  instead 
of  repairing  them  they  pulled  them  doAvn  and  built 
in  their  stead  the  Palace  of  the  Grand  Prior  and  a 
number  of  other  handsome  Hotels,  which  were  fre- 
quently occupied  by  persons  having  no  connection 
with  the  Order  of  Malta.  Moreover,  the  place  lost 
more  and  more  its  warlike  traditions,  and  developed 
into  a  calm  and  peaceful  retreat  whose  favored  occu- 
pants enjoyed  the  advantages  offered  by  a  life  at  once 
of  retirement  and  dissipation.  Notwithstanding  its 
ancient  towers  and  battlemented  walls,  there  Avas  no 
spot  in  Paris  wliere  one  could  live  in  such  absolute 
freedom,  paying  no  taxes  and  subject  to  no  interfer- 
ence from  either  Crown  or  municipality.  Three 
classes  were  to  be  found  at  this  time  living  within 
the  Temple  enclosure  besides  the  legitimate  mem- 
bers of  the  order :  first,  wealthy  families  seeking 
either  to   economize   or  to  enjoy  its  free  manner  of 


THE  SEVENTEENTH  CENTUKY,  1610  TO  1661.  333 

life  ;  second,  debtors  to  whom  it  offered  a  safe  asylum  ; 
and,  third,  all  manner  of  tradespeople  and  artisans 
Avho  went  there  to  escape  from  the  tyrannies  of  the 
trade  corporations  and  the  heavy  taxes  imposed  in 
the  city.  Certain  manufactures  (such  as  false  jew- 
elry) which  Avere  forbidden  in  Paris  were  conducted 
freely  in  the  Temple,  and  a  thriving  trade  sprang  up 
in  what  was  called  bijoux  du  Temple,  whUe  the 
Faculty  of  Medicine  Avas  powerless  to  arrest  any  one 
of  the  numerous  quacks  who  openly  sold  their  drugs 
and  panaceas  in  the  Temple  enclosure. 

When  Jacques  de  Souvre  Avas  Grand  Prior  in  1630 
he  began  the  great  Palace  of  the  Priors,  Avith  Delisle 
for  architect.  It  consisted  of  a  somcAA'hat  bare  facade 
preceded  by  a  grand  court  surrounded  by  a  peristyle 
of  coupled  columns  of  such  enormous  proportions  as 
to  completely  dAvarf  the  palace  itself  and  lend  it  a 
poor,  mean  look. 

It  Avas  just  about  this  time  that  Richelieu,  lately 
advanced  to  the  post  of  chief  minister,  began  to 
think  about  enlarging  his  hotel  in  the  Rue  St. 
Honore.  This  hotel,  whose  history  has  been  briefly 
traced  in  a  pre\aous  chapter,*  had  passed  from  the 
liands  of  the  Marquis  de  Rambouillet  into  those  of 
the  Secretary  of  State,  Pierre  Forget  de  Fresne, 
from  whom  Richelieu  bought  it.  In  1629  the  work 
of  reconstruction  was  begun. 

The  first  thing  to  be  done  was  to  convert  the  small 

*  See  pages  231  and  233. 


334  PARIS. 

garden  belonging  to   the  old  palace  into  a  "  Park." 
To  an  ordinary  individual  the  fact  that  this  garden 
was  limited    by  the  walls  of   the    city  itself   might 
have  presented  an  obstacle.     Not  so  with  Richelieu. 
The  walls  came  down,  the  moats  were  filled  in,  and  a 
veritable  park    extending  to  the  north  was  laid  out 
in  the  rear  of  his  dwelling.     Nor  did  the  extension  of 
this  last  prove  any  more  difficult.     One  after  another 
the  proprietors  of  the  neighboring  houses  found  them- 
selves obhged  to  part  Avith  them,  and  in  seven  years 
the  new  palace  had  swallowed  up  the  Hotel  d'Estrees, 
the  Hotel  de  Mercoeur,  the  Maison  de  Benjamin,  the 
great  Maison  de  I'Ours,  that  of  the  Chapeau  Rouge, 
of  the  Cygne-Blanc,  and  many  others.     In  one  case 
at  least,  that  of  a  house  on  the  Rue  St.  Honore,  the 
Cardinal  had  recourse  to  very  doubtful  means.      "At 
first,"  says  one  account,  "  the  Cardinal  was  mild  and 
tried  persuasion,  but   the  bourgeois  who   ON^oied  the 
house   said   stupidly  that  it  Avas  the   heritage  of  his 
forefathers.     So  at  last  the  Minister,  becoming  angry, 
applied  the  newly-created  '  tax  for  the  wealthy '  to 
him,  and  after  that  he  got  the  house  as  he  wanted  to." 
Two  contractors  named  Frogee  and  Barbier  had 
bought  up  all  that  part  of  the  Petits  Champs  lying 
just  beyond  the  lately  effaced  walls  and  moats,  that 
the   Cardinal  had  not  taken  for  his  park.     Here  a 
new  quarter    rapidly  grew  up,   but   the    purchasers 
were    obliged   to   sign   agreements   that   the    houses 
should  have  neither  door  nor  window  overlooking 


>r^tt?5*^^^ 


THE  SEVENTEENTH  CENTURY,  1610  TO  1661.     335 

his  Eminence's  park  and  enclosure.  More  than 
that,  when  the  Prevot  des  Marchands,  who  had 
bought  a  piece  of  hmd  from  Barbier  on  the  Rue  Bons 
Enfants,  built  three  pavilions  between  the  park  and 
the  rear  of  the  Hotel  du  Vrilliere,  we  find  Richelieu 
writing  to  him  to  say  that  as  still  another  pavilion  is 
needed  to  "  entirely  prevent  any  one  from  looking 
into  my  park,  this  line  is  to  ask  you  to  have  this  fourth 
one  built,  as  well  as  the  others." 

In  spite  of  all  his  efforts,  however,  there  were  a 
few  of  the  adjacent  buildings  that  the  Cardinal  could 
not  get  control  of.  Sauval  states  that  the  architect, 
Mercier,  was  much  hampered  by  the  pavilions  and 
wings  of  certain  buildings  which  the  owners  declined 
to  part  with,  and  which  he  was  consequently  obliged 
to  build  around  ;  he  adds  that  to  this  circumstance  was 
due  the  great  irregularity  of  the  plan.  The  Cour 
Orry,  for  instance,  and  the  Hotels  de  Chatillon  and 
Franciere  interfered  seriously  with  the  theatre  upon 
which  Richelieu  had  lavished  so  much  care  and  money. 
A  plan  of  1679  gives  it  a  width  of  only  thirty-six 
feet. 

After  Richelieu's  death,  when  opinions  could  be 
expressed  more  frankly,  this  irregular  mass  of  build- 
ings, with  its  courts  and  passageways,  arcades,  stair- 
ways, and  gardens,  Avas  severely  criticised.  The 
first  courtyard  was  too  small,  and  its  buildings  too 
low ;  the  second  court  was  too  large,  and  the  en- 
trance, at  the  end  of  a  long  vaulted  passageway  con- 


336  PAKis. 

necting  witli  the  first  court,  was  placed  on  one  side 
instead  of  in  tlie  middle.  The  heavy  sculptured 
anchors  and  prows — in  reference  to  the  supervision 
exercised  by  Richelieu  over  the  commerce  and  navi- 
gation of  Paris — which  adorned  the  rez-de-chaussee 
were  poorly  executed  and  clumsy,  as  any  one  can 
still  see  for  himself,  from  a  few  survivors  which, 
placed  in  the  little  gallery  on  the  right  of  the  second 
court,  give  it  its  name  of  Galerie  des  Proues.  The 
great  stairway  was  pronounced  defective  in  construc- 
tion and  wretchedly  placed  off  in  a  corner  instead 
of  in  the  centre  of  tlie  wing,  where  it  would  have 
had  a  fine  effect;  and  finally,  the  buildings  themselves, 
with  their  low  arcades  overweighted  by  the  sculptured 
prows  and  entresol,  and  the  story  above  with  its 
Doric  pilasters,  failed  to  please  any  one.  For  all  of 
this  the  architect,  however,  was  not  held  accountable. 
Richelieu  himself  distinctly  stated  that  nothing  was 
done  except  by  his  express  orders.  One  part  alone 
was  generally  admired  ;  that  Avas  the  open  arcade,  one 
story  high  and  surmounted  by  a  balcony  which  con- 
nected the  east  and  west  wings  on  the  garden  side. 
When  the  Queen-Mother  and  her  sons  took  up  their 
residence  in  the  Palais  Royal  the  former  had  a  bal- 
cony constructed  in  front  of  her  apartment,  from 
which  she  could  see  into  the  garden.  Mercier 
prepared  the  designs  for  the  "  Queen's  balcony," 
which  was  executed  by  Etienne  Doyart  (de  Nevers) 
with  as  much  "  delicacy,  tenderness,  and  patience  as 


THE  SEVENTEENTH  CENTURY,  1610  TO  1661.  337 

though  instead  of  iron  it  had  been  silver,  wrought 
by  the  most  skillful  goldsmiths."  Of  all  the  rooms 
and  galleries  selected  by  the  Queen  for  her  own  use, 
only  the  large  cabinet  was  actually  finished  when  she 
arrived ;  but  upon  that  the  Cardinal  had  expended  so 
much  care  and  taste  that  it  was  long  the  wonder  and 
admiration  of  all  Paris.  The  Queen,  however,  failed 
to  appreciate  it,  and  even  had  masterpieces  by  Car- 
racci,  Gruido,  Andrea  del  Sarto  and  others  replaced 
by  copies,  while  the  originals  were  sent  to  Fontaine- 
bleau.  She  employed  the  painter  Vouet  to  carry  out 
her  designs  for  completing  the  other  apartments,  an 
oratory,  a  bath-room,  three  great  galleries,  the  King's 
suite  in  the  left  wing,  originally  intended  by  Richelieu 
for  himself,  and  so  on.  The  large  gallery  of  the  left 
wing  made  up  for  certain  defects  of  construction  by 
its  magnificent  marbles,  brought  from  the  store-house 
at  Fontainebleau  or  else  selected  in  Italy  by  the  Mar- 
quis of  Frangipani  or  the  Abbe  Mazarin,  and  its  col- 
lection of  portraits,  each  from  the  hand  of  a  master, 
which  gave  it  its  name  of  Galerie  des  Hommes  II- 
lustres. 

When  Richelieu  died  in  1642  his  will  confirmed 
the  gift  he  had  made  four  years  earher  of  his  palace 
to  the  King ;  it  also  rehearsed  the  conditions :  The 
"  Hotel  "  was  never,  for  any  cause  whatsoever,  to  be 
alienated  from  the  crown,  and  the  "  Capitainerie  et 
Conciergerie "  was  to  belong  to  his  successors,  the 
Dukes  of  Richelieu.     The  will  goes  on  to  give  the 

22 


338  PAEIS. 

most  minute  directions  for  building  the  "  Hotel  de 
Richelieu/'  which  his  nephew  and  heir  was  to  occupy, 
in  the  adjoining  street  (which  after  going  for  a  time 
by  the  name  of  Rue  Royal  took  that  of  the  Cardinal), 
and  for  the  installation  and  care  of  his  library  in  one 
of  the  additions  to  be  built  there.  He  arranges  for 
everything — the  furniture  that  is  to  go  into  the  new 
hotel,  the  salary  to  be  paid  the  librarian,  the  sums  to 
be  expended  on  the  building,  which  is  to  follow  cer- 
tain plans  and  occupy  a  clearly  indicated  site  ;  finally 
he  names  the  palace  which  he  presents  to  the  King, 
the  "  Palais  Cardinal."  None  of  these  directions 
were  carried  out;  the  house  on  the  corner  of  the  Rue 
St.  Honore  and  the  Rue  Royal,  belonging  to  the 
Quinze  Vingts,  was  never  bought,  as  was  intended, 
in  order  to  connect  the  new  hotel  with  the  "  Palais 
Cardinal,"  and  a  part  of  the  land  already  acquired 
for  the  purpose  was  sold  by  the  Duke  some  years 
later  to  an  "  association  "  of  three  persons,  who  built 
upon  part  and  resold  the  rest.  Rene  Baudilet, 
''  Tailor  to  the  Queen,"  built  the  house  opposite  the 
Rue  Villedot  in  1658,  in  which  Moliere  died  fifteen 
years  later.  As  to  the  library,  Richelieu's  niece,  the 
Duchess  of  Aiguillon,  who  occupied  the  hotel  as  soon 
as  enough  of  it  was  finished  for  any  one  to  live  in, 
cared  so  little  either  for  it  or  her  uncle's  wishes  that 
she  appropriated  the  salary  to  have  been  paid  to  a 
librarian,  and  allowed  many  of  the  books  to  be  car- 
ried off.     She  showed  herself  much  more  zealous  in 


THE  SEVENTEENTH  CENTURY,  1610  TO  1661.  339 

the  matter  of  the  inscription  placed  over  the  main 
entrance  by  Richelieu's  orders.  This  inscription, 
which  announced  to  all  the  world  that  the  building 
was  the  "  Palais  Cardinal,"  was  an  offence  to  the 
enemies  of  the  dead  Minister.  When  the  court  was 
established  there,  one  of  these,  the  Marquis  de  Fou- 
ville,  represented  to  Anne  of  Austria  how  unseemly 
it  was  for  a  King  to  inhabit  a  palace  bearing  the 
name  of  one  of  his  own  subjects.  The  Duchesse 
d'Aiguillon,  on  the  other  hand,  insisted  so  vehemently 
that  some  recognition  of  so  magnificent  a  gift  Avas 
due  to  the  donor's  memory,  that  the  inscription  re- 
mained ;  but  the  people  paid  no  attention  to  it,  for 
from  the  moment  the  Queen-Mother  and  her  sons  came 
there  to  live  it  was  the  Palais  Royal,  and  so  it  has 
continued  to  be  ever  since.  Mazarin,  following  in 
the  Avake  of  the  court,  employed  Mansard  to  build 
him  a  palace  on  the  site  of  the  Hotel  Tuboeuf,  at  the 
corner  of  the  Rue  (Neuve)  des  Petits  Champs  and 
the  Rue  Vivienne.  Here  he  collected  that  famous 
library  Avhich,  scattered  during  the  Fronde  and  re- 
covered on  the  Cardinal's  return  to  power  in  1653, 
became  on  his  death  the  property  of  the  college  (des 
Quatre  Nations)  founded  by  him  on  the  left  bank. 
Its  sojourn  on  the  Rue  des  Petits  Champs  is  com- 
memorated by  the  present  Bibliotheque  Nationale 
Avhich  occupies  the  same  building,  or  as  much  of  it 
as  modern  restorations  have  left  standing. 

In  the  opposite  wall  a  gate  was  cut,  so  that  in 


340  PARIS. 

order  to  reach  the  Palais  Royal  the  Cardinal  had  only 
to  pass  through  the  garden  ;  but  soon  even  this  was 
too  far  to  go,  and  an  apartment  was  prepared  for  him 
between  those  of  the  Queen  and  the  young  princes. 
Here  Louis  XIV.  and  Philip  d'Orleans  passed  their 
neglected  and  unhappy  childhood.  La  Porte  says  in 
his  memoirs  that  the  Cardinal  let  it  be  seen  that  any 
zeal  displayed  in  the  interest  of  the  young  princes 
would  not  be  taken  in  good  part.  "The  King,"  says 
Saint  Simon,  "  has  been  heard  to  refer  bitterly  to  this 
period  of  his  life  ;  he  has  even  told  of  how  he  was 
found  one  evening  half  drowned,  having  fallen  into 
the  large  basin  in  the  garden."  This  basin  (supplied 
with  water  from  "La  Samaritaine"  of  the  Pont  Neuf), 
in  which  the  great  reign  just  about  to  open  was  so 
nearly  effaced,  stood  near  the  end  of  the  garden,  in 
front  of  where  the  Cafe  de  la  Rotonde  is  now. 

During  the  day  the  garden  Avas  thrown  open  to 
the  public ;  but  at  night,  after  the  gates  were  shut, 
the  Queen,  accompanied  only  by  a  few  of  her  favor- 
ites, used  to  love  to  pace  up  and  down  the  walks  and 
alleys,  sometimes  nearly  until  daybreak.  Gay  times 
for  the  Palais  Royal,  a  period  of  royal  marriages  and 
baptisms,  of  fetes  and  princely  visitors.  Then  came 
the  Fronde,  and  everything  was  changed.  The 
Queen  adopted  the  dangerous  course  of  arresting  the 
ringleaders.  After  a  Te  Deiim  of  gratitude  at  Notre 
Dame  for  Conde's  victory  over  the  Imperiahsts  (Au- 
gust 20,  1648)  she  sent  Comminges  to  seize  Broussel. 


THE  SEVENTEENTH  CENTURY,  1610  TO  1661.     341 

"  Go,"  she  says  piously,  "  and  God  be  with  you  !" 
Broussel,  surrounded  by  his  live  children,  had  just 
finished  dinner  in  his  house  close  by  in  the  Port  St. 
Landry  ;  he  was  hurried  off  just  as  he  was,  ''  in  his 
slippers,"  while  the  one  man-servant  of  the  establish- 
ment ran  after  the  carriage,  screaming  :  '^  To  arms ! 
To  arms  !  They  are  carrying  off  M.  Broussel !"  On 
the  27tli  the  people  rose,  and  in  twelve  hours  as 
many  hundred  barricades  had  been  thrown  up  in  the 
streets  of  Paris.  The  Parliament  presented  itself  in 
a  body  at  the  Palais  Royal  to  implore  the  Regent  to 
liberate  the  captive  members,  but  Anne  flew  into  a 
temper,  and,  entering  ^'  her  little  gray  room,"  slammed 
the  door  in  their  faces.  The  discomfited  members, 
in  order  to  get  back  to  the  Palais  de  la  Cite,  had  to 
again  climb  over  the  barricades,  as  had  been  their 
undignified  manner  of  coming.  But  now  the  people 
had  grown  threatening ;  they  got  over  the  first  and 
second  by  lying:  "  The  Queen  was  considering  ;  she 
gave  hopes."  But  at  the  third  they  were  stopped. 
"  Broussel  free,  or  Mazarin  and  the  Chancellor  as 
hostages  " — only  on  those  terms  could  they  get  by. 
Back  to  the  Palais  Royal  then  to  plead,  to  show  the 
Queen  how  the  safety  of  the  court  Avas  in  danger, 
that  the  people  threatened  to  carry  the  young  King 
off  to  the  Hotel  de  Ville  and  set  the  Palais  Royal  on 
fire.  The  princesses  and  Mazarin  add  their  entreat- 
ies, as  well  as  Henrietta-Maria  of  England,  who  had 
some  experience  in  affairs  of  this  kind,  and  who  ob- 


342  PARIS. 

served  tlryly  that  Mazarin  might  have  a  fate  similar 
to  Strafford's.  This  settled  it ;  Broussel  was  liberated, 
and  the  people,  overjoyed  at  their  victory,  quieted 
down  as  suddenly  as  they  had  risen.  "  In  less  than 
two  hours,"  says  Cardinal  de  Retz,  "  Paris  looked 
quieter  than  1  have  ever  seen  it,  even  on  a  Good 
Friday." 

But  Anne  of  Austria  never  again  felt  quite  safe  in 
the  Palais  Royal ;  at  the  least  sign  of  trouble  she  was 
ready  to  fly,  and  on  three  different  occasions  she 
slipped  out  of  Paris  with  her  sons  before  the  people 
could  stop  her.  In  1651  Mazarin  had  fled,  and  it 
was  rumored  that  the  Queen  was  preparing  to  follow 
him  ;  instantly  there  was  a  great  uprising.  A  threat- 
ening mob  surrounded  the  Palais  Royal  and  insisted 
upon  seeing  the  King.  The  Queen,  who  had  gone  to 
bed,  was  aroused  by  a  messenger  from  Prince  Gaston 
of  Orleans,  who  asked  her  to  take  some  means  of  quell- 
ing the  tumult.  She  thereupon  declared  that  she  had 
not  the  remotest  idea  of  carrying  off  the  King,  that 
he  was  sound  asleep  at  that  moment,  and  his  brother 
as  well,  as  M.  de  Sourches  could  see  for  himself  if  he 
chose  to.  FinaUy,  as  the  people  were  still  dissatis- 
fied, she  had  the  palace  doors  thrown  open,  and  sent 
word  to  them  to  come  in  if  they  wanted  to  and  look 
at  the  King.  Enchanted  at  this  confidence  they  did 
so,  and  could  not  express  their  delight  at  the  sight 
of  the  young  King  lying  in  bed,  with  the  curtains 
drawn  back  so  as  to  let  everyone  see.     The  crowd 


THE  SEVENTEENTFI  CENTURY,  1610  TO  1661.     343 

went  quietly  off  showering  benedictions  on  him,  and 
seven  months  later  the  Regent,  who  had  had  quite 
enough  of  such  excitements,  made  an  excuse  to 
get  herself  and  her  sons  out  of  Paris.  When  they 
returned  in  the  following  year  it  Avas  not  to  the  Palais 
Royal,  but  to  the  Louvre.  Mme.  de  Motteville  re- 
marks that  they  had  experienced  the  "  inconveni- 
ence "  of  private  houses  unprovided  with  moats. 
Henrietta-Maria,  with  her  English  suite,  left  the 
Louvre  to  the  royal  family  and  went  to  the  Palais 
Royal,  most  unfortunately  for  the  latter,  for  the  place 
was  so  pillaged  by  the  English  as  to  be  completely 
ruined.  The  theatre  was  also  in  ruins — that  famous 
theatre  where  Richelieu  had  produced  his  play  of 
Mirame  to  an  icy  audience  of  courtiers  already  vic- 
ing with  one  another  for  the  Queen's  favor.  An  at- 
tempt to  build  another  story  had  resulted  in  crushing 
in  the  roof,  and  a  number  of  the  magnificent  oak 
beams,  upon  which  the  Cardinal  had  expended  such 
enormous  sums  of  money,  were  broken  in  two.  De- 
plorable as  its  condition  was,  it  was  the  only  theatre 
in  Paris  available  Avhen  Moliere  was  turned  out  of  the 
Louvre  in  1660.  He  and  his  troupe  had  just  been 
engaged  by  Monsieur  (the  King's  brother)  as  "come- 
dians in  ordinary;"  the  Prince  accordingly  exerted  his 
influence  to  get  it  for  them,  and  when  three  months 
had  been  spent  in  making  such  repairs  as  were  ab- 
solutely necessary,  the  curtain  rose  for  the  first  time 
on  Le  Depit  Amoureux  and  Le  Cocu  Imaginaire,  two 


344  PAEIS. 

of  his  most  popular  plays.  Here  the  next  twelve 
years  saw  his  masterpieces  produced  one  after  another, 
and  it  was  on  this  stage  that  he  was  seized  with  con- 
vulsions while  acting  Le  Malade  Imaginaire  in  1673, 
his  death  occurring  a  few  hours  later. 

Let  us  now  see  what  has  been  done  since  the  death 
of  Henry  IV.  towards  finishing  the  Louvre.  Com- 
plete as  far  as  the  two  galleries  were  concerned,  it 
was  now  a  question  of  carrying  on  the  work  on  the 
main  building,  and  to  do  this  no  less  a  person  than 
the  great  Cardinal  was  needed.  Richelieu  was  made 
Minister  on  the  26th  of  April,  1624,  and  two  months 
later  we  find  the  King — acting  on  his  advice — laying 
the  corner-stone  of  the  new  constructions  which  were 
to  result  in  such  a  whole  as  had  hitherto  existed  only 
in  the  dreams  of  Henry  IV.  It  was  on  the  28tli  of 
June  that  the  King  came  from  Compiegne  to  Paris 
to  take  part  in  this  ceremony ;  the  Prevot  des  March- 
ands  and  the  Sheriffs  drove  over  from  the  Hotel  de 
Ville,  the  King  returning  with  them  to  lay  the  cor- 
ner-stone of  the  fountain  on  the  Place  de  Greve. 

The  architect  chosen  by  Richelieu  was  Le  Mercier, 
engaged  at  the  same  time  on  the  Palais  Cardinal  and 
the  reconstruction  of  the  Sorbonne.  He  had  lately 
returned  from  Italy,  but  Avas  so  little  influenced  by 
what  he  had  seen  there  that  the  only  trace  of  his 
foreign  studies  to  be  found  at  the  Louvre  is  a  certain 
resemblance  between  the  vestibule,  and  the  entrance 
to  the  Palazzo  Farnese. 


THE  SEVENTEENTH  CENTUKY,  1610  TO  1661.     345 

Intelligent  and  judicious,  "  he  was  capable,"  as 
Vitet  says,  "  of  admiring  something  beside  his  own 
work,"  and  more  than  thatj  we  may  add,  of  admiring 
the  Avork  of  his  own  countrymen  ;  he  believed  that 
the  art  of  carrying  on  intelligently  what  another  had 
begun  was  of  quite  as  much  value  as  that  of  creating 
unintelligently.  And  so  with  the  utmost  cheerfulness, 
and  with  no  air  at  all  of  "resigning"  himself  to  cir- 
cumstances, he  set  to  work  to  finish  the  Louvre,  build- 
ing on  another's  foundations,  and  woidd  probably  not 
even  have  allowed  himself  the  liberty  of  enlarging 
Pierre  Lescot's  plans  had  he  not  been  obliged  to. 
Eichelieu,  in  fact,  intended  Louis  XIIL  to  be  the 
greatest  King,  and  his  palace  of  the  Louvre  the 
greatest  palace,  on  earth.  Had  the  plans  been  car- 
ried out  it  would  have  been  nearly  four  times  as 
large  as  it  now  is,  extending  on  the  north,  for  exam- 
ple, as  far  as  the  Rue  St.  Honore.  When  the  work 
was  begun  the  Peres  de  la  Congregation  were  notified 
that  as  the  Oratoire  would  be  swallowed  up  in  the 
new  construction,  the  King  proposed  to  replace  it  by 
a  church  on  the  Rue  St.  Honore,  which  would  be  in- 
cluded in  the  Louvre.  They  thanked  the  King,  and 
their  chapel  has  been  called  ever  since  V  Oratoire 
Moyal. 

All  that  Le  Mercier  was  able  to  carry  out  of  these 
gigantic  plans  was  the  northern  half  of  the  west  wing, 
of  which  Lescot  had  finished  the  southern  half,  and 
the  western  end  of  the  north  wing.     The  most  difii- 


346  PAKIS. 

cult  part  of  his  task  was  the  great  central  pavilion, 
which,  for  a  time  at  least,  Avas  to  be  the  main  en- 
trance to  the  palace.  In  order  to  bring  this  into 
accord  as  far  as  possible  with  Lescot's  style  he  imi- 
tated the  latter's  Pavilion  du  Roi  on  the  south  side, 
only  altering  the  style  of  the  ornamentation  so  as  to 
agree  better  Avith  the  rest  of  the  west  facade.  For 
the  piers  of  the  top  story  he  had  the  happy  idea  of 
copying  the  caryatides  of  Goujon  in  the  Salle  des 
Gardes.  These,  eight  in  number,  constitute  the  chef- 
d'oeuvre  of  Jacques  Sarrazin,  then  at  the  height  of 
his  reputation.  At  the  same  time  Nicolas  Poussin, 
brought  back,  not  too  willing,  from  Rome  by  the 
King's  invitation,  was  put  to  work  on  the  Grande 
Gallerie,  where  he  accomplished  very  little,  and  that 
little  was  nearly  all  destroyed  by  fire  in  1661. 

Richelieu's  death  brought  the  works  at  the  Louvre 
to  a  sudden  stop,  and  when  Louis  XIII.  followed  him 
five  months  later,  and  the  Regent  with  her  young 
sons  went  to  the  Palais  Cardinal  to  live,  even  the 
royal  mint  and  printing-office,  which  the  Minister 
had  established  in  the  ground  floor  of  the  Grande 
Gallerie,  were  abandoned,  and  the  Avhole  building 
fell  into  a  state  of  neglect,  which  the  occupation  of 
Henrietta-Maria  and  her  English  suite  did  little  to 
improve.  Ten  years  later,  when  these  were  sent  to 
the  Palais  Cardinal,  and  the  court  returned  to  the 
Louvre,  the  work  was  again  taken  up,  and  soon,  as 
the   young   King's   interest  became  aroused,  pushed 


THE  SEVENTEENTH  CENTURY,  1610  TO  1661.     347 

with  great  activity.  The  apartments  of  the  Queen 
and  her  son  were  restored,  and  the  tremendous  task 
of  rebuilding  the  eastern  wing  and  finishing  those  on 
the  north  and  south  undertaken.  This  was  the  con- 
dition of  the  Louvre :  The  west  fa9ade  was  finished, 
its  central  pavilion  and  northern  half  but  lately,  as 
we  have  just  seen,  by  Le  Mercier;  the  southern  half, 
the  corner  Pavilion  du  Roi,  and  the  western  half  of 
the  south  fa(;ade,  by  Pierre  Lescot ;  the  north-west 
pavilion  and  the  north  fayade  were  only  begun,  the 
walls  not  being  higher  than  the  ground  floor  ;  the 
east  facade  was,  except  for  some  unimportant  details, 
just  as  it  had  been  under  Charles  V.,  and  its  door- 
way, the  main  entrance  to  the  Louvre,  was  the  same 
gloomy,  forbidding  object  that  had  for  so  long  sug- 
gested a  prison  rather  than  a  royal  residence  5  this 
was  to  be  entirely  rebuilt,  and  on  the  south  not  only 
the  half  still  needed  to  complete  Lescot's  work,  but 
an  entire  new  fagade  was  planned.  The  Petite  and 
Grande  Galleries  were  finished. 

By  1660  the  work  was  in  full  train.  M.  de  Rata- 
bon,  the  superintendent,  showed  a  wonderful  activity, 
above  all,  in  pulling  down  ;  he  was  in  such  a  hurry 
to  demolish  the  Hotel  du  Petit-Bourbon,  so  as  to  clear 
the  way  for  the  erection  of  the  east  fa9ade,  that  he 
did  not  even  take  time  to  notify  Moliere,  who  for  two 
years  past  had  been  giving  performances  there  three 
times  a  week  in  the  Grande  Salle.  "  On  Monday, 
October  11th,"  writes  one  of  his   comedians,  "  the 


348  PAEis. 

troupe  was  much  surprised  to  find  itself  without  a 
theatre."  Ratabon  was  made  to  repair  the  tlieatre 
of  the  Palais  Cardinal  for  their  use,  to  make  up  for 
having  turned  them  out  so  roughly. 

Mazarin,  ill,  nearly  dying,  established  himself  in 
the  attic  story  of  the  Pavilion  du  Roi  in  the  winter 
of  1661,  so  as  to  be  on  the  spot,  and,  by  appearing 
in  person  at  the  carnival  festivities,  show  his  enemies 
that  he  was  still  a  factor  to  be  considered.  On  the 
morning  of  February  6th  the  decorations  of  the  Gal- 
erie  des  Rois,  the  "  Galerie  Peinte  "  as  it  was  called, 
where  the  ballet  was  to  be  danced,  took  fire,  and  very 
soon,  the  magnificent  new  hangings  of  gold  brocade 
having  caught,  the  whole  place  was  in  flames.  It  was 
put  out  before  reaching  the  rest  of  the  building,  but 
all  the  portraits  of  the  Kings  and  Queens,  Marie  de 
Medicis  alone  excepted,  were  destroyed,  as  well  as 
the  paintings  of  the  ceiling,  among  them  those  exe- 
cuted shortly  before  by  Poussin. 

The  Cardinal  was  in  great  danger.  Brienne  met 
him,  being  half  carried  out  of  his  apartments  by  his 
captain  of  the  guard,  "  trembling,  exhausted,  with 
death  written  in  his  eyes ;  whether  from  fear  at  hav- 
ing been  so  nearly  suflbcated  in  his  bed,  or  that  the 
catastrophe  was  a  warning  of  his  own  approaching 
end,  I  have  never  seen  any  one  so  pallid,  so  unstrung. 
I  advanced  towards  him  with  the  rest,  but  when  I 
found  that  he  made  no  response  to  any  one  I  kept 
quiet,  merely  letting  him  see  that  I  was  there."    The 


THE  SEVENTEENTH  CENTURY,  1610  TO  1661.     349 

shock  was   too   mucli  in   his  ailing  condition,  and  a 
month  later  he  died  at  Vincennes. 

But  little  was  done  during  the  reign  of  Louis  XIII. 
and  the  minority  of  his  son  toward  finishing  the 
Tuileries.  In  1634  the  Parliament  ordered  the  de- 
molition of  what  remained  of  the  wall  of  Charles  V. 
between  the  Porte  Neuve  and  the  Porte  St.  Honore, 
and  of  the  moat.  Shops  and  markets  were  built  on 
a  part  of  the  site  thus  left  vacant,  the  Porte  St. 
Honore  being  converted  into  a  meat-market,  and  the 
materials  from  the  old  fortifications  were  used  to 
carry  on  the  new  bastioned  w\all  begun  in  1566. 
Meanwhile  the  ground  lying  between  this  and  the 
wall  of  the  Tuileries  garden  had  been  given  by  the 
King  to  one  Regnard,  a  former  valet-de-chambre  of 
De  Souvre,  on  condition  that  he  would  turn  it  into  a 
garden  or  public  park.  This  soon  became  a  favorite 
resort  of  the  fashionable  society  of  Paris.  From  its 
elevated  terraces,  extending  the  entire  length  of  the 
walls,  Sauval  says  a  view  could  be  had  not  only  of 
the  greater  part  of  Paris  and  the  windings  of  the 
Seine,  but  of  all  that  went  on  in  the  Cours  de  la 
Peine.  When  Richelieu,  in  order  to  break  off  the 
intercourse  between  Mile,  de  Montpensier  and  the 
Dauphin,  had  her  sent  to  Paris,  she  was  lodged  in 
the  Tuileries,  probably  in  the  apartments  occupied 
later  on  by  Louis  XIV.,  which  overlooked  the  "Petit 
Jardin."  At  all  events,  this  was  called  the  Parterre 
de  Mademoiselle  until  the  year  of  the  great  tourney, 


350  PAKIS. 

1662,  in  which  the  King  and  royal  princes  took  part; 
ever  since  then  the  spot  has  been  called  "  Place  du 
Carrousel."  Mademoiselle  describes  how,  as  she  was 
getting  ready  for  bed  on  the  night  of  February  7, 
1651,  word  was^  brought  that  something  was  taking 
place  in  Paris.  She  went  out  on  a  terrace,  and  by 
the  light  of  the  moon  saw  a  barricade  stretched 
across  the  end  of  the  street,  and  a  number  of  horse- 
men guarding  it  so  as  to  cover  the  escape  u£  Mazarin 
from  the  Porte  de  la  Conference  ;  a  number  of  boat- 
men were  trying  to  drive  the  guard  away.  The 
princess  apparently  lost  no  time  in  sending  some  of 
her  people  to  take  a  hand  in  the  fray,  for  with  their 
aid  the  cavaliers  were  driven  off. 

One  spring  night  thirty-three  years  earlier  the  sen- 
tinel at  the  Louvre  had  seen  what  looked  like  a  cir- 
cle of  fire  above  the  roof  of  the  Palais  de  la  Cite. 
He  gave  the  alarm,  but  it  was  too  late  to  save  the 
Grand'  Salle  ;  the  wind  Avas  high,  the  woodwork  very 
old  and  dry,  and  in  less  than  half  an  hour  the  roof  and 
wooden  arches  were  completely  destroyed,  the  pillars 
and  great  marble  table  were  in  pieces,  the  statues  of 
the  Kings  hopelessly  defaced,  and  the  chapel,  treasury 
office  and  first  Chamber  of  Inquiry  destroyed.  The 
Tour  de  I'Horloge  caught  fire  from  a  brand,  but  was 
saved  without  incurring  much  damage.  The  most 
serious  loss  of  all  was  that  of  the  registers ;  one  of 
the  clerks  who  succeeded  in  reaching  his  office 
through  the  garden  was  able  to  save  a  few,  but  the 


THE  SEVENTEENTH  CENTUKY,  1610  TO  1661.  351 

rest  were  totally  destroyed.  This  fact  gave  rise  to 
a  report  that  the  fire  had  been  started  purposely,  in 
order  that  the  papers  relating  to  Ravaillac's  trial 
might  be  either  consumed  or  stolen,  as  they  were 
thought  to  impHcate  certain  high  personages.  The 
truth  is  that  the  cause  of  the  fire  was  never  known  ; 
it  may  have  been  the  result  of  the  carelessness  of  a 
portier's  daughter,  or  of  a  merchant  of  the  Grand' 
Salle,  as  is  sometimes  stated.  If  it  was  the  latter  he 
was  one  of  the  losers,  for  all  the  merchandise  except 
some  at  the  "  Fourth  Pillar  "  was  burned.  Salomon 
de  Brosse  was  given  the  task  of  rebuilding  the  Grand' 
Salle,  and  such  other  parts  of  the  Palais  as  had  suf- 
fered. He  finished  it  in  four  years.  The  dimensions 
and  general  arrangement  of  the  old  Grand'  Salle  were 
preserved  ;  the  ncAv  one  had  two  naves  separated  by 
Ionic  columns  supporting  stone  arches,  and  flanked 
by  arcades  with  massive  pilasters ;  the  light  came 
from  two  great  bays  placed  at  either  end.  Severe 
and  cold,  but  at  the  same  time  dignified  and  entirely 
in  keeping  with  the  use  to  which  it  was  devoted,  this 
hall  of  de  Brosse  remained  until,  under  the  name  of 
the  "  Salle  des  Pas  perdus,"  it  was  in  turn  destroyed 
by  fire  in  our  own  day,  its  only  modification  of  any 
account  being  the  two  rows  of  bull's-eyes  Avhich  were 
cut  in  the  roof  in  1683,  so  as  to  give  the  body  of  the 
hall  more  light. 

It  was   at  this   date   that  a  richly-carved  wooden 
chapel  was  built  on  the  site  of  the  old  one,  its  grat- 


352  PARIS. 

ing  of  gilded  metal  adorned  with  the  arms  of  M.  de 
Novion,  then  First  President.  The  merchants  had 
re-established  themselves,  each  with  his  stall  at  the 
base  of  a  pillar.  Gloves,  fans,  slippers,  all  the  frip- 
peries of  fiishionable  society,  must  be  bought  at  the 
Palais,  to  be  in  correct  style.  The  scene  of  Cor- 
neille's  comedy,  written  in  1636,  is  laid  there.  As 
before,  each  gallery  had  its  book-stalls — in  the  Galerie 
Merciere,  that  of  Abraham  Bosse,  a  la  Palme,  and 
another,  a  TEcii  de  France  •  Pierre  Rocolet,  printer 
in  ordinary,  both  to  the  King  and  the  Maison  de 
Ville,  took  for  his  sign  the  Armes  of  Paris.  Bilaine's 
well-known  book-shop  was  at  the  second  pillar  of  the 
Grand'  Salle,  while  that  of  Rene  Gaignard,  le  Sacrifice 
d'Abel,  was  at  the  foot  of  the  fiBst.  It  was  here  that,  at 
a  certain  hour  of  the  day,  the  wits  used  to  congregate 
and  delight  the  bystanders  with  their  clever  repartee. 
The  Sainte  Chapelle,  but  slightly  hurt  in  the  fire 
of  1618,  was  seriously  damaged  in  1630  through  the 
carelessness  of  some  workmen,  who,  while  repairing 
the  leaden  covering  of  the  roof,  left  some  lighted  char- 
coal beneath  their  stove.  The  spire  with  which 
Charles  VI.  had  replaced  the  original  one  of  Saint 
Louis  was  destroyed,  as  well  as  the  roof  and  stone 
ornaments  of  the  eaves.  The  new  spire,  far  less 
beautiful  than  its  predecessors,  was  much  higher,  one 
of  the  highest  indeed,  in  Paris ;  it  was  always  a  little 
out  of  plumb,  and  leaned  so  much  by  1791  that  it 
had  to  be  taken  down. 


THE  SEVENTEENTH  CENTURY,  1610  TO  1G61.     353 

This  fire  emphasized  the  importance  of  having 
some  sort  of  direct  communication  between  the  river 
and  the  court  of  the  Sainte  Chapelle,  and  it  was  in 
consequence  that  the  little  street,  named  after  the 
patroness  of  the  Queen,  Rue  Ste.  Anne,  was  opened, 
connecting  the  court  and  the  Rue  Neuve  St.  Louis ; 
the  Latter  was  hned  Avith  new  buildings  of  brick  and 
stone,  those  on  the  south  overhanging  the  river  some- 
Avhat,  in  almost  every  one  of  which  was  a  goldsmith's 
shop.  These,  spreading  to  the  quay,  which  was  a  con- 
tinuation of  the  Rue  St.  Louis,  gave  it  the  name  that 
it  still  bears.  The  Rue  Ste.  Anne  is  now  called  Rue 
Boileau,  after  the  poet  who  has  given  such  a  vivid 
picture  of  the  life  of  the  Palais  in  Lntrin,  and  whose 
childhood  was  spent  in  one  of  the  tall  houses  border- 
ing on  the  court.  The  scene  of  V Intrigue  des  filonXj 
Avritten  in  1647  by  I'Estoile,  is  laid  among  the  gold- 
smiths' shops  of  the  Rue  de  Harlay. 

Either  on  the  Pont  Neuf  or  at  the  Palais  were 
waged  the  principal  battles  of  the  Fronde.  "  The 
pamphlets,"  writes  Constant  Moreau,  "  were  con- 
ceived, thought  out,  written  at  the  Palais.  They 
were  sold  on  the  Pont  Neuf.  When  the  populace 
had  yelled,  denounced  and  threatened  sufficiently  at 
the  Palais,  they  fought  on  the  Pont  Neuf.  What  was 
merely  a  row  at  the  Palais  became  a  riot  on  the  Pont 
Neuf." 

Still  another  disastrous  fire  was  that  which  started 
in  a  shop  on  the  Pont  aux  Meuniers — or  Pont  Mar- 

23 


354  PARIS. 

chand — in  1621 ;  it  caused  the  total  destruction  of  the 
two  bridges  (the  Pont  au  Change  was  so  near  the  Pont 
aux  Meuniers  as  ahnost  to  touch  it  at  the  south  end)  and 
some  damage  in  the  Cite  and  to  the  Tour  de  I'Hor- 
loge  as  well.     For  eighteen  years  a  simple  foot-bridge 
alone  replaced  the    two  that  had  been  burned,  but 
between  1639  and  1647  the  Pont  au  Change  was  re- 
built in  stone,  and  lined  Avith  tall  houses  as  before. 
Some  ten  or  twelve  years  later  the  Pont  Notre  Dame 
had  to  be  rebuilt  as  well,  having  been  declared  unsafe. 
Before  leaving  the  Isle  de  la  Cite  we  must  men- 
tion  the   dedication  of  himself  and  his  kingdom  to 
the  Virgin,  made    by  Louis   XIII.  in  Notre  Dame 
in    1638.      The    reconstruction  of    the    high    altar 
ordered   in   commemoration  of  this   vow,   and  only 
completed  in  the  lifetime  of  his  son,  w^as   the  begin- 
ning of  that  series  of  unfortunate  "  restorations  "  by 
w^hich  so  much  that  was  beautiful  and  valuable  in  the 
old  church  was  hopelessly  lost.     For  the  new  altar 
Nicolas   Coustou   executed  the   "  Descent  from  the 
Cross  ;"  the   "  Entombment "   on  the  plinth,  by  Van 
Cleve,  was  brought  from  the   Church  of  the  Capu- 
cins ;  on  the  right  the  statue  of  Louis  XIII.  is  by 
Guillaume  Coustou,  and  the  kneeling  figure  of  Louis 
XIV.  on  the  left  by  Antoine  Coyzevox. 

In  front  of  a  fountain — removed  in  1748 — in  the 
Parvis  Notre  Dame  was  the  statue  called  by  the  people 
the  Grand  Jeusneur.  It  was  made  of  plaster  covered 
with  lead,  and  represented  a  man  holding  a  book  in 


THE  SEVENTEENTH  CENTUKY,  1610  TO  1661.  355 

one  hand  and  with  the  other  leaning  on  a  staff,  around 
which  snakes  were  coiled.  Nothing  is  known  of  the 
origin  of  this  figure,  nor  for  whom  it  was  intended, 
but  for  several  generations  it  acted  the  part  of  Pas- 
quin  for  the  Parisians,  sometimes  exchanging  remarks 
with  "la  Samaritaine"  on  the  Pont  Neuf,  sometimes 
signing  its  name  to  satires  or  political  pamphlets  of 
the  day. 

The  island  on  the  east,  still  called  I'lle  Notre  Dame, 
now  beginning  for  the  first  time  to  be  inhabited,  a 
bridge  was  needed  to  connect  it  with  the  Cite.  For 
ten  or  fifteen  years,  however,  the  canons  of  the 
Cathedral  successfully  opposed  the  work  by  refusing 
to  let  it  abut  upon  their  gardens.  It  had  finally  to  be 
carried  around  to  a  spot  in  the  Port  St.  Landry,  near 
the  western  extremity  of  the  present  Quai  aux  Fleurs, 
was  finished  by  1634,  and  called  the  Pont  Rouge. 

We  Avill  now  briefly  notice  four  establishments  on 
the  left  bank  closely  associated  with  this  period. 
First,  the  Jardin  des  Plantes,  founded  in  the  reign 
of  Louis  XIIL,  under  the  direction  of  De  la  Brosse, 
on  the  waste  land  lying  off  to  the  east  of  the  Uni- 
versity Hill.  Next,  the  Sorbonne,  entirely  rebuilt 
by  Richelieu  when  he  was  made  grand  master  of  the 
order  in  1622  ;  Jean  Le  Mercier  was  the  architect. 
The  college  occupied  three  sides  of  an  open  court, 
while  the  theological  department  had  a  separate  build- 
ing of  its  own  on  the  other  side  of  the  Rue  Sorbonne. 
Richelieu  himself  laid  the  corner-stone  of  the  church 


356  PARIS. 

in  1635 — on  the  site  of  the  ohl  College  de  Calvi. 
It  Wcas  still  unfinished  at  his  death,  and  his  body  Avas 
taken  to  the  old  college  chapel,  hung  with  black  vel- 
vet for  the  occasion,  Avhere  it  lay  in  state  until,  owing 
to  the  increasing  unpopularity  of  the  dead  Cardinal, 
the  authorities  Avere  obliged  to  "  cause  the  coffin  to 
disappear  "  for  a  time,  for  fear  some  indignity  should 
be  offered  it.  When  the  tomb  executed  by  Girardon 
in  the  adjoining  church  Avas  at  last  ready,  hoAvever, 
the  body  Avas  laid  there,  and  remained  Avithout  mo- 
lestation until  the  Revolution ;  the  head  A\'as  then 
stolen,  and  eleven  years  passed  before  it  could  be  re- 
covered and  restored  to  its  proper  place. 

At  a  A^ery  short  distance  from  the  Sorbonne  stands 
the  Palais  de  Luxembourg,  AAdiich  Avith  its  great  gar- 
dens Avas  the  residence  of  Marie  de  Medicis  after  the 
death  of  Henry  IV.  She  bought  it  from  the  Duke 
de  Piney -Luxembourg,  Avhose  name  it  has  always 
borne,  although  nothing  remains  of  the  original  build- 
ing, and  the  property  has  passed  through  the  hands 
of  a  succession  of  OAvners.  The  Queen  AA^anted  an 
Italian  palace,  and  employed  Jacques  Debrosses 
to  build  her  a  modified  Pitti.  The  same  architect 
laid  out  the  gardens,  designed  the  Fontaine  de 
Medicis,  and  constructed  the  aqueduct  at  Arcueil 
Avhich  supplied  the  palace  Avith  Avater.  From  Marie 
de  Medicis  it  passed  into  the  hands  of  Gaston  of  Or- 
leans I  after  him  it  belonged  successiA^ely  to  Mile,  de 
Montpensier,  Elizabeth  de  Guise,  and  the  tAvo  daugh- 


THE  SEVENTEENTH  CENTURY,  1610  TO  1661.     357 

ters  of  the  last,  the  second  of  whom  gave  it  to  Louis 
XIV.,  ever  since  whose  time  it  has  remained  in  the 
hands  of  the  government. 

When  Margaret  of  Valois  died  she  left  her  great 
hotel,  not  yet  entirely  finished,  to  the  young  King, 
Louis  XIIL,  but  within  a  few  years  it  had  to  be  sold 
for  the  benefit  of  her  creditors.  With  it  went  the 
park  and  all  the  dependencies,  and  soon  we  find  new 
streets  opened,  the  Rues  de  Lille,  de  Verneuil,  de 
rUniversite,  du  Bac,*  and  others,  while  the  ground 
bordering  on  the  Seine  is  divided  into  lots  on  Avhich 
a  number  of  fine  hotels  are  built. 

The  alienation  of  this  "  grand  pare  non  clos,"  as 
it  is  called  in  the  proces-verbal,  was  not  accomplished 
without  vigorous  protests  from  the  dwellers  in  the 
quartier,  who  had  so  long  enjoyed  its  shady  walks 
and  pleasant  alleys — that  "  pubHc  qui  est  prive  du 
contentement  de  la  pourmenade  des  bailees  que  la 
defFuncte  reyne  Marguerite  avoit  fait  faire  avec  tant 
de  soing  et  d'affection."  The  poor  clerical  students, 
the  pastry-cooks,  the  tavern-keepers,  and  many  other 
honest  folk  sent  in  their  protests  ;  that  of  the  bakers 
was  especially  plaintive. 

"  You  know  only  too  well.  Messieurs,"  it  ran,  "  how 
on  holidays  and  Sundays  the  populace  of  Paris  assem- 
ble in  i)arties  in  various  parts  and  divisions  of  this 
regretted  park,  some  to  discuss  affairs  of  weight  and 

*  Following  the  old  road  from  the  ford  that  gave  it  its  name. 
See  page  278. 


358  PARTS. 

others  their  honest  affections.  Then  they  enHven 
themselves   each  according  to   his  mood  and  fancy, 

Avithont  any  quarrelling  or  disputing  at  all 

Thus  the  bakers,  for  whom  I  am  charged  to  repre- 
sent to  you  in  all  humility  the  great  sorrow  and  loss 
that  the  degradation  of  this  park  would  cause  us." 

The  monks  of  the  abbey  of  St.  Germain  des  Pres 
were  no  more  successful  in  preserving  their  grounds. 
In  1636  the  ancient  fortifications,  consisting  of  a 
double  line  of  high  walls  flanked  by  towers,  and  con- 
cealing a  deep  moat  which  ran  between  them,  were 
pulled  down,  new  streets  followed  the  line  of  the 
moats,  and  the  road  leading  to  the  Pre  aux  Clercs 
was  lined  with  houses ;  this  is  the  street  which  on  the 
modern  map  bears  the  name  of  St.  Benoit.  More 
humiliating  than  all,  the  abbey,  except  within  the 
now  curtailed  limits  of  the  establishment,  lost  its  right 
of  "  haute  justice." 

In  1644,  in  the  course  of  some  necessary  work  of 
repair,  they  discovered  under  the  pavement  of  the 
church  the  coffins  of  Childebert  and  of  Ultrogothe. 
Twelve  years  later,  when  the  choir  stalls  were  being 
changed,  they  came  across  the  tombs  of  Childeric, 
his  wife,  and  their  son  Dagobert,  but  on  investigating 
further  it  was  discovered  that  these  had  without 
doubt  been  opened  and  rifled  by  the  workmen  in  1644; 
these  coffins,  with  those  of  Chilperic  and  Clotaire  II. 
and  their  Avives,  were  all  reinterred  in  the  church, 
while  the  "bones  and  ashes"  of  Childebert  and  his  wife 


THE  SEVENTEENTH  CENTURY,  1610  TO  1661.  359 

were  wrapped  separately  in  white  satin,  placed  in  a 
leaden  coffin  divided  in  two  parts,  and  buried  in  the 
middle  of  the  choir,  where  a  monument  was  raised 
over  them. 

With  St.  Germain  des  Pres  our  circuit  of  Paris 
during  this  period  ends.  To  the  latter  part  of  the 
seventeenth  century  and  the  opening  of  the  eigh- 
teenth (the  fifty-four  years,  that  is,  that  elapsed 
between  the  death  of  Mazarin  and  that  of  Louis 
XIV.)  we  shall  devote  a  fresh  chapter. 


360  PAEIS. 


CHAPTER    IX. 

LOUIS   XIV. 

This  chapter  and  the  next  are  a  history  of  decay 
in  Paris. 

The  "  Grand  Siecle/'  especially  that  part  of  it 
which  is  associated  with  the  maturity  and  old  age  of 
Louis  XIV.,  was  an  evil  time  for  the  city.  Paris, 
like  a  personality,  lives  by  an  interior  energy,  and  is 
great  and  successful  in  proportion  as  she  is  herself 
and  content  Avith  herself.  But  the  final  victory  of 
the  monarchy  had  killed,  or  rather  had  lethargized, 
the  soul  of  the  Capital. 

When  the  King  could  say  '^  I  own  everything," 
then  Paris  could  no  longer  play  her  part  ;  she  no 
longer  possessed  the  hegemony  of  that  France  which 
she  had  so  largely  created.  There  are  great  works 
done,  but  they  are  official  purely  ;  there  is  genius, 
but  it  is  too  little  given  to  Paris  and  too  much  to  the 
court.  After  all,  it  is  the  time  of  Moliere,  and  later 
of  Mansard.  In  such  a  time  and  with  such  names 
the  Capital  is  necessarily  stately,  but  it  grows  gloomy, 
too.  The  highest  point  of  vigor  and  of  life  is  the 
chef-d'oeuvre  of  the  Invalides.  In  that  church  the 
dome,  a  very  diflScult  thing  to  make  beautiful,  is  a 
success,   and   the   battle-flags   of    all    the    European 


LOUIS  XIV.  361 

nations  have  the  glory  of  hanging  beneath  as  perfect 
a  roof  as  the  after-Renaissance  ever  produced.  But, 
after  all,  the  Invalides  was  outside  of  Paris  then  ;  it  was 
like  a  free  action  of  grace  or  energy  performed  by  a 
man  who  has  left  a  narrow  and  false  circle  and  is 
out  again  with  his  friends  ;  from  the  dome  you  could 
look  over  fields.  But  with  that  one  exception  (in 
spite  of  many  detailed  effects  that  could  not  save  the 
general  result)  Paris  gained  little  from  the  "  Roi 
Soleil." 

What  in  our  modern  jargon  we  falsely  call  "  good 
government " — the  order,  misery  and  wealth  that 
accompany  such  periods — that  indeed  obtained.  It 
was  the  fashion  for  the  wealthy  foreigner  to  visit 
Paris  then,  and  the  reputation  which  it  now  enjoys 
of  being  a  good  centre  for  the  idle  and  curious  cer- 
tainly arose  at  the  close  of  the  seventeenth  century 
and  the  beginning  of  the  eighteenth.  It  was  this 
reputation  that  somewhat  later  gathered  so  many  for- 
eigners in  the  city,  and  helped  not  a  little  to  prepare 
the  Revolution.  But  Paris  herself — the  Paris  that 
in  her  vigor  makes  so  characteristic  a  thing — that 
Paris  was  dying.  The  one  focus  of  life  left,  the 
court,  retired  from  it.  There  began  the  profound 
sense  of  ill-ease  and  discontent  that  lasted  till  the 
Revolution,  and  in  the  midst  of  such  a  city,  dull, 
archaic,  a  type  of  decay,  was  the  Parlement,  the  old 
fossilized  body  of  lawyers  who  sat  in  the  Palais,  in 
the  Cite,  and  who  in  the   succeeding  seventy  years 


362  PARIS. 

protest  sullenly,  and  with  the  spasmodic  eccentricity 
of  something  that  is  dying,  against  the  overwhelming 
power  at  Versailles. 

We  will  as  usual  begin  our  survey  of  the  city  at  the 
Greve.  When  the  Fronde  was  finally  suppressed 
and  negotiations  of  peace  were  opened  between  Paris 
and  the  court,  then  established  at  Pontoise,  the 
officers  of  the  Hotel  de  Ville  came  forward  to  do  their 
part,  but  were  promptly  informed  that  no  direct 
communication  between  the  Hotel  de  Ville  and  the 
Crown  was  possible  until  the  former  Provost  and 
sheriff's,  driven  out  by  the  Fronde,  were  re-estab- 
lished. Broussel  and  his  two  sherifl's  at  once  retired, 
Antoine  Le  Febre  was  reinstated,  and  when  the  King 
entered  Paris  in  October,  1652,  the  representatives 
of  the  Hotel  de  Ville  took  part  in  the  State  reception 
held  at  the  Louvre.  The  King  declared  that  all 
should  be  forgotten,  and  the  city,  to  prove  it,  went  so 
far  as  to  entertain  Mazarin  with  feastings,  while  the 
crowd  assembled  on  the  Greve  gave  every  evidence 
of  enthusiastic  joy,  as  though  the  Cardinal  had  been 
the  most  popular  of  Ministers,  bursting  out  into  a 
perfect  frenzy  of  delight  when  his  almoner  threw 
money  to  them  from  the  windows.  Soon  after,  the 
King,  his  mother,  Mazarin  and  all  the  court  took 
supper  at  the  Hotel  de  Ville  and  witnessed  a  repre- 
sentation of  the  Cid,  the  occasion  being  the  unveil- 
ing of  a  statue  of  Louis  XIV.  trampling  upon  Discord, 
by  Gilles  Guerin,  set  up  in  the  courtyard  by  the  Pro- 


LOUIS  XIV.  363 

vost  and  sheriffs  as  a  witness  to  their  loyalty  and  de- 
votion. On  the  whole,  the  Crown  kept  its  promises 
to  the  Hotel  de  Ville  pretty  well,  confirming  former 
privileges  and  adding  some  new  ones. 

Under  the  Provost  Michel  Le  Pelletier  a  Avork  was 
undertaken  that  changed  the  whole  appearance  of  the 
Greve — we  refer  to  the  hanging  quay,  finished  in 
1675,  which  reached  from  the  Pont  Notre  Dame  to 
the  middle  of  the  Greve,  and  was  then  prolonged  to 
the  north  and  east  again,  so  as  to  divide  the  Place  in 
two.  Bullet,  who  had  just  finished  the  Porte  St. 
Denis,  was  the  architect,  and  did  his  work  so  suc- 
cessfully that  the  contemporaneous  Journal  des  Sa- 
vants gravely  compares  it  to  the  hanging  gardens  of 
Babylon.  The  Place  de  la  Greve  thus  found  itself 
secured  from  inundations,  but  at  the  cost  of  a  greatly 
diminished  theatre  for  the  shows  and  fetes  with  which 
it  disputed  the  popularity  of  the  Pont  Neuf.  It  con- 
tinues to  be  the  scene  of  numerous  executions,  but  dur- 
ing the  reign  of  Louis  XIV.,  instead  of  the  political 
offenders  sent  there  by  Richeheu,  the  most  famous 
criminals  are  all  Avomen.  "At  last  the  thing  is  done," 
writes  Mme.  de  Sevigne  to  her  daughter  on  the  17th 
of  July,  1676.  "The  BrinviUiers  is  in  the  airj"  by 
which  she  does  not  mean  to  be  understood  as  saying 
that  the  Marchioness  was  hung,  but  that  after  being 
beheaded  her  body  had  been  burned  and  the  ashes 
scattered  to  the  wind.  Madame  de  Sevigne  did  not 
watch  the  actual  execution,  but  from  the  window  of 


364  PARIS. 

one  of  the  houses  on  the  Pont  Notre  Dame  srav  the 
victim  pass — "thrown  back  on  some  straw,  in  a 
mob-cap  and  a  chemise,  with  a  doctor  on  one  side  of 
her  and  the  executioner  on  the  other."  The  painter 
Le  Brun  as  well  Avas  among  the  crowds  gathered  to 
see  her  go  by,  and  made  a  sketch  of  her  sitting  in  the 
wagon,  holding  a  crucifix  between  her  bound  hands. 

Madame  de  Sevigne  has  also  left  an  account  of  the 
execution  of  La  Voisin,  convicted  of  poisoning,  and 
burned  alive  on  the  Place  de  la  Greve,  after  having 
absolutely  refused  to  perform  "  I'amende  honorable  " 
at  the  Parvis  Notre  Dame,  and  having  resisted  Avith 
all  her  strength,  and  to  the  last,  the  execution  of  the 
sentence.  She  had  been  tried  at  Vincennes,  and  was 
passing  along  the  Rue  St.  Antoine  when  Mme.  de 
Sevigne  saAv  her,  this  time  from  a  window  in  the 
Hotel  de  Sully. 

Louis  XIV.  never  took  the  trouble  to  come  from 
Versailles  in  order  to  be  present  at  the  annual  cele- 
bration on  Saint  John's  eve  in  the  Place  de  la  Greve, 
but  in  1687,  after  attending  a  service  at  Notre  Dame 
to  return  thanks  for  his  recovery  from  a  severe  ill- 
ness, he  accepted  an  invitation  given  by  the  Provost 
and  sheriffs  to  dine  in  the  Hotel  de  Ville,  and  by  his 
extreme  affability  nearly  made  up  on  that  one  occasion 
for  all  the  previous  years  of  neglect.  After  insist- 
ing upon  having  only  bourgeois  to  act  as  his  guard, 
and  to  wait  upon  him  at  table,  and  ordering  the  re- 
lease of  any  prisoners  then  confined  for  debt  in  the 


LOUIS  XIV.  365 

gaol,  his  eye  falling  upon  the  marble  statue  of  him- 
self mentioned  above,  where  he  was  represented  as 
trampling  Discord  beneath  his  feet,  he  observed  that 
such  allusions  Avere  now  out  of  place  and  the  statue 
should  be  removed.  M.  de  Fourey,  the  Provost,  ac- 
cordingly had  it  sent  to  Chessy,  his  country  place. 
In  1689  the  place  thus  left  empty  was  filled  by 
another  statue  of  the  King,  in  bronze,  this  time,  cast 
by  the  Kellers  from  a  model  of  Coyzevox.  It  was 
seven  feet  high,  and  represented  Louis  in  the  cos- 
tume of  a  triumphant  Roman  ;  one  of  the  bas-reliefs 
on  the  pedestal  showed  him  distributing  bread  during 
the  famine  of  1662,  while  the  other — less  happy — 
was  the  triumph  of  Religion  over  Heresy,  an  allu- 
sion to  the  revocation  of  the  Edict  of  Nantes  Avhich 
might  well  have  been  dispensed  with.  At  the  same 
time  a  bust  of  the  King  w^as  placed  on  the  opposite 
side  of  the  square,  at  the  corner  of  the  Rues  de  la 
Vannerie  and  Jean  de  I'Epine  (a  little  east  of  the 
present  corner  of  1' Avenue  Victoria  and  the  Place  de 
I'Hotel  de  Ville).  It  was  called  from  thenceforth  le 
coin  du  roi.  The  iron  lantern  directly  beneath  this 
bust  became  only  too  celebrated  under  Louis  XVI. 

The  only  other  circumstance  of  this  reign  which 
we  have  to  note  in  connection  with  the  Hotel  de  Ville 
is  the  tax  called  capitation,  imposed  in  1695  upon 
every  head,  of  whatever  rank,  as  a  means  of  filling 
the  treasury  which  the  war  had  emptied.  The  people, 
especially  women  of  rank,  pressed  in  such  crowds  to 


366  PARIS. 

pay  this  tax,  which  they  looked  upon  as  a  patriotic 
measure,  that  the  Grand'  Salle  was  turned  for  a  time 
into  a  receiver's  office,  and  is  so  represented  in  an 
old  engraving  of  the  period. 

In  the  meantime  it  had  become  imperatively  neces- 
sary to  enlarge  and  rebuild,  to  a  certain  extent,  the 
Chatelet.  In  a  Declaration  du  Boy,  dated  in  the  year 
1672,  he  states  that  he  has  learned  of  the  bad  con- 
dition of  the  Chastcld  de  Paris,  and  is  "  touched  by 
the  misery  of  those  confined  there,"  and  so  he  has 
determined  to  rebuild  it.  Several  adjoining  houses 
were  bought,  but  the  work  did  not  begin  until  t^velve 
years  later.  A  good  deal  of  the  original  building 
was  left  standing.  The  new  part  was  on  the  side 
towards  the  Pont  au  Change,  but  as  a  map  of  Paris 
of  1684  still  gives  the  chapel  of  St.  Leufroi  and  the 
Place  Vallee  de  la  Misere,  it  is  evident  that  they  were 
not  interfered  with. 

We  have  seen  that  under  Richelieu  and  Louis 
XIV.,  when  the  latter  was  still  very  young,  the  work 
on  the  Louvre  had  been  once  more  started,  only  again 
to  be  interrupted,  this  time  by  the  troubles  of  the 
Fronde.  In  1660,  however,  Le  Mercier  was  again 
empowered  to  go  ahead,  and  it  seemed  as  though  at 
last  the  great  palace  was  to  be  finished.  Hardly, 
however,  had  the  north-east  pavilion  reached  the  first 
floor  when  the  architect  died.  Le  Vau  took  his  place 
— he  had  been  working  for  Fouquet — and  displayed 
such  energy  and  talent  that  in  three  years  the  south 


LOUIS  xrv.  367 

fagade,  carefully  planned  so  as  to  accord  with  the 
work  of  Lescot,  was  finished,  and  the  north  fa9ade 
had  only  to  be  carried  on,  where  the  hotels  of  Ros- 
taing  and  la  Force  had  stood,  and  joined  to  the 
east  fagade,  the  plans  for  which  Le  Vau  was  then 
perfecting.  Finally,  these  plans  completed,  and  ap- 
proved by  the  King,  were  about  to  be  put  into  exe- 
cution :  this  was  to  be  the  main  side  of  the  Louvre, 
the  grand  entrance  was  to  be  there,  and  it  would  be 
the  great  achievement  of  the  architect's  life.  The 
trenches  had  been  dug,  the  scaffoldings  prepared,  the 
substructions  had  even  in  some  places  risen  several 
feet  above  the  ground,  when  suddenly  an  order  came 
to  stop  the  work.  Colbert  had  bought  the  office  of 
superintendent  of  the  buildings  from  M.  de  Ratabon, 
and  either  from  jealousy  or  because  he  really  thought 
(as  he  said  he  did)  that  the  plans  Avere  not  sufficiently 
imposing,  he  insisted  upon  having  them  submitted  to 
a  careful  inspection  and  comparison.  This  was  in 
May,  1664 ;  the  next  three  years  were  spent  in  dis- 
cussions, quarrels,  and  intrigues.  Bernini,  brought 
from  Rome  at  the  cost  of  infinite  trouble  and  expense, 
prepared  plans  which,  entirely  out  of  accord  with  the 
rest  of  the  building,  pretentious  and  inappropriate, 
were  adopted  while  he  was  in  Paris  and  rejected  as 
soon  as  he  had  left  for  Rome,  which  he  did  very  soon, 
ui:ging  that  at  his  age  he  did  not  dare  to  risk  the 
severity  of  a  winter  in  Paris.  Charles  Perrault,  Avho 
had  been  largely  instrumental  in  obtaining  the  rejec- 


368  PARIS. 

tion  of  Bernini's  plan,  now  succeeded  in  bringing  for- 
ward that  of  his  brother,  the  physician,  Chiude  Per- 
rault,  which,  submitted  some  years  before,  had  been 
favorably  regarded  by  Colbert.  Le  Vau's  plan  was 
finally  abandoned  as  being  too  simple  and  "  uniform," 
and  Perrault's  adopted.  This  was  the  famous  East  Col- 
onnade. Le  Vau  had  now  not  only  the  mortification 
of  seeing  this  great  colonnade  rise  in  the  place  where 
he  had  thought  to  have  erected  his  own  most  consid- 
able  work,  but — a  blow  which  is  supposed  to  have 
killed  him — in  1670  Perrault  began  building  another 
wing  directly  in  front  of  the  really  admirable  one  he 
had  erected  on  the  south  ;  this  was  made  necessary 
by  the  errors  of  construction  of  the  great  colonnade, 
which  was  seventy-two  feet  longer  than  the  Louvre 
itself,  and  consequently  overlapped  the  north  and 
south  wings  which  it  was  intended  to  join.  Before 
Perrault  could  finish,  however,  the  King  had  tired  of 
it  all  and  refused  to  give  any  more  money,  and  for 
seventy-five  years  the  view  from  the  river  presented 
the  curious  efi'ect  of  two  south  fa9ades,  the  roof 
and  dome  of  the  one  in  the  rear  rising  above  the  three 
stories  of  the  one  in  front.  Le  Vau's  still  exists  in 
part,  and  in  the  left  pavilion,  which  he  foimd  and 
kept  in  his  plan,  there  are  some  fragments  of  a  cor- 
nice dating  from  Lescot  and  Goujon.  The  Louvre 
would  now  have  been  completely  abandoned  had  not 
Louis  first  lodged  a  number  of  artists  there,  and  later 
the  various  academies. 


LOUIS  XIV.  369 

Seguier,  who  had  succeeded  Richelieu  as  the  patron 
of  the  Academic  Frangaise,  died  in  1672,  and  the 
Academic,  which  had  been  hokling  its  meetings  in 
his  hotel  on  the  Rue  du  Bouloi  (now  la  Cour  des 
Fermes),  was  thus  left  homeless,  until  Colbert,  him- 
self a  member,  induced  the  King  to  become  its  patron 
and  assign  for  its  use  two  rooms  near  the  Pavilion  des 
Cariatides,  in  the  ground  floor  of  the  Louvre  (the 
present  Salle  Puget  and  Salle  des  Coustou  of  the 
modern  sculpture  gallery).  These  rooms  were  sim- 
ply furnished,  and  for  a  long  time  the  only  arm-chair 
was  reserved  for  the  director,  the  other  members,  no 
matter  of  Avhat  rank,  having  only  straw-bottomed 
chairs.  The  story  goes  that  the  old  Cardinal  d'Estrees 
on  one  occasion  attended  an  assembly  in  so  gouty  and 
infirm  a  condition  that  an  arm-chair  had  to  be  brought 
for  him.  Great  murmurings,  thereupon;  the  academic 
equahty  of  the  members  had  been  destroyed.  The 
King  restored  it  by  providing  arm-chairs  for  all,  and 
from  then  until  now  the  Academic  Franyaisc  has  pos- 
sessed as  many  arm-chairs  as  members.  It  continued 
to  hold  its  assemblies  in  the  Louvre  without  interrup- 
tion until  suppressed  by  the  decree  of  August  8, 
1793.  On  January  12,  1673,  the  first  great  meet- 
ing was  held  in  the  new  quarters.  Three  new  mem- 
bers were  installed,  Flechier,  Racine,  and  the  Abbe 
Gallois,  and  a  brilliant  company  assembled  to  witness 
the  ceremony.  Racine's  speech  was  never  published, 
but  Flechier,  in  his,  highly  extolled  the  enlightened 

24 


370  PAEIS. 

policy  of  "  the  greatest  of  Kings  "  in  throwing  open 
his  own  palace  to  the  academicians.  The  forty  mem- 
bers annually  attended  a  musical  mass  in  the  chapel 
of  St.  Louis,  which  had  been  left  unfinished  by  Le 
Mercier,  on  the  second  floor,  almost  directly  above 
their  rooms,  and  listened  to  a  panegyric  of  the  Saint 
King. 

The  Academie  des  Inscriptions  et  des  MedailUs  and 
the  Academies  of  Sciences,  of  Architecture,  and  of 
Painting,  were  all  established  by  Louis  XIV.  in  the 
Louvre,  only  the  last  (in  order  to  leave  more  room 
for  the  royal  printing-office)  was  sent  off  for  thirty 
years  to  a  hotel  adjoining  the  Palais  Royal.  On  its 
return  were  begun  the  art  exhibitions  for  which  Paris 
has  ever  since  been  famous.  Article  twenty -five  of 
the  constitution  of  this  society  requires  that  every  year, 
on  Saint  Louis'  day,  the  members  shall  exhibit  their 
works  to  the  public.  The  exhibition  of  1699,  the 
first  held  after  the  return  to  the  Louvre,  lasted  three 
weeks,  and  it  is  interesting  to  note  the  number  of 
pictures  then  shown  that  have  found  their  Avay  back 
there.  No  less  than  four  exhibited  by  the  elder 
Coypel,  for  instance,  hang  to-day  on  the  walls  of  the 
Grande  Galerie.  There  was  but  one  other  exhibition 
(notwithstanding  "  article  twenty-five  ")  held  during 
the  lifetime  of  Louis  XIV. 

The  great  Carrousel  of  1662  impressed  upon  the 
King  two  things  :  one  was  the  necessity  of  finishing 
the  palace  of  the  Tuileries,  whose  uncompleted  wings 


LOUIS  xrv.  371 

had  formed  a  poor  background  for  that  superb  pageant, 
and  the  other  was  the  desirability  of  having  a  hall  for 
theatrical  shows  and  ballets  in  the  palace.  Le  Vau, 
perhaps  to  console  him  for  the  way  he  had  been 
treated  in  the  matter  of  the  Louvre,  was  given  the 
Avork,  but  soon  died,  leaving  D'Orbay  to  carry  out 
his  plans.  The  west  facade  was  completed  and  an 
effort  (whose  results  are  severely  criticized  by  Blon- 
del)  made  to  conform  the  work  of  Philibert  Delorme 
and  Jean  BuUant  with  that  of  later  architects.  In 
the  northern  half  of  the  west  wing  was  the  new 
theatre  planned  by  Vigarini,  the  Italian  engineer 
who  had  directed  the  arrangements  for  the  great 
Carrousel.  The  corner  pavilion,  corresponding  to  the 
Pavilion  de  Flore  at  the  south-west  angle,  was  di- 
vided into  suites  of  apartments  for  persons  whose 
rank  entitled  them  to  live  in  the  royal  palace.  In 
the  second  floor  Avere  the  apartments  of  the  King 
and  Queen,  the  hall  of  the  hundred  members  of  the 
SavIss  Guard,  Avho  always  lodged  there  during  the 
stay  of  the  King,  and  of  the  various  officers  of  the 
royal  household.  The  stair  Avith  Avhich  Le  Vau  re- 
placed the  beautiful  one  of  Philibert  Delorme,  so 
greatly  admired  by  8auval,  led  from  the  hall  of  the 
Cent  Siiisscs  to  n  tiny  chapel,  now  completed  for  the 
first  time,  its  sacristy  almost  touching  Vigarini's 
theatre.  This  theatre  was  considered  a  marvel 
of  size  and  elegance,  especially  its  ceiling  decorated 
by  Xo('l  Coypel  after  designs  made   by   Le   Brun. 


372  PAKIS. 

Abbe  De  Pure  tells  of  the  wonderful  process  by 
which  paper  was  hardened  almost  to  the  condition  of 
stone  and  used  in  the  decorations,  the  first  mention 
we  have  of  carton-pierre,  which  indeed  is  usually 
thought  to  be  a  quite  modern  invention.  The  elab- 
orate mechanical  contrivances  for  lowering  and  rais- 
ing objects  on  the  stage  gave  it  its  name  of  Salle  des 
Machines.  It  was  here  that  pantomimes,  a  form  of 
entertainment  lately  imported  from  Italy,  were  tirst 
introduced  to  the  Paris  public ;  they  became  enor- 
mously popular,  and  for  a  long  time  quite  superseded 
all  other  kinds  of  spectacle. 

Before  Louis  XIV.  transferred  his  interest  to  Ver- 
sailles, the  gardener  Le  Notre  had  turned  the  simple 
suburban  park  of  Catherine  de  Medicis  into  a  mag- 
nificent royal  garden,  whose  great  avenues  and  broad 
terraces  formed  a  perfect  setting  for  the  palace.  It 
Avas  to  him  that  the  great  esplanades,  which  permitted 
an  unencumbered  view  of  the  long  line  of  buildings 
and  the  broad  terrace  on  the  river-side,  Avere  due. 

North  of  the  Tuileries  gardens,  and  a  little  beyond 
the  Rue  St.  Honore,  stood  a  hotel  that  had  belonged 
originally  to  the  Due  de  Vendome,  son  of  Henry  IV. 
and  Gabrielle  d'Estrees.  When  Luvois  conceived  his 
project  of  opening  a  new  "  Place  Publique  "  in  this 
quarter,  it  was  bought  and  pulled  down,  and  later  the 
neighboring  Capucin  convent  as  well.  Then  Luvois 
died,  and  soon  after  it  was  discovered  that  the  royal 
finances  were  too  heavily  involved  to  continue  the 


LOUIS  xrv.  373 

Avork.  Accordingly,  in  1699  the  King  proposed  to 
the  city  to  take  the  site  and  such  materials  as  had 
already  been  collected  and  finish  it — only  Luvois' 
plan  was  not  to  be  used.  This  offer  was  accepted, 
and  the  younger  Mansard  employed.  His  plan  pro- 
vided for  an  octagonal  space  instead  of  a  square,  the 
eight  facades  being  ornamented  with  Corinthian  col- 
umns placed  on  substructions  and  surmounted  by 
stone  dormers  of  different  designs.  In  the  centre  of 
the  Place  was  an  equestrian  statue  of  Louis  XIV., 
modelled  by  Girardon  and  cast  by  Keller.  The 
whole  was  completed  by  1701  and  given  the  name 
of  Place  des  Conquetes. 

Another  public  work  of  the  same  nature  was  the 
opening  of  the  Place  des  Victoires  at  the  spot  whei'e 
the  Rues  Neuve  des  Petits  Champs  and  Croix  des 
Petit  Champs  meet.  This  was  undertaken  by  a  pri- 
vate individual,  the  Duke  de  la  Feuillade,  in  recog- 
nition of  the  extraordinary  favors  shown  him  by  the 
King.  Here  too,  Mansard  prepared  the  plans,  though 
the  work  was  under  the  direction  of  the  architect 
Predot.  The  buildings  surrounding  it  were  in  the 
accepted  style  of  the  day,  a  line  of  open  arcades 
supporting  Ionic  columns,  between  which  were  the 
double  row  of  windows  of  the  second  and  third 
stories,  the  whole  surmounted,  of  course,  by  a  "  Man- 
sard "  roof.  In  1686  the  statue  which  was  to  occupy 
the  centre  was  put  in  position  with  characteristic 
ceremonies.     The  Duke  de  la  Feuillade,  at  the  head 


374  PARIS. 

of  his  regiment  of  tlie  guard,  rode  three  times  around 
the  Place,  dismounting  each  time  to  prostrate  himself 
before  the  monument ;  the  Corps  de  Ville  which  had 
borne  some  of  the  expenses  connected  Avith  opening 
the  Place,  took  part,  and  in  the  evening  fireworks 
were  sent  off  at  the  Greve. 

This  statue  of  Louis  XIV.  represented  him  in 
coronation  robes,  and,  sceptre  in  hand,  treading  under 
foot  a  Cerberus,  type  of  the  triple  alliance,  while  a 
winged  Victory,  lightly  balanced  on  a  globe,  was 
about  to  place  a  crown  of  laurel  on  his  head.  The 
whole  group,  made  of  lead  and  gilded  over,  was  the 
work  of  the  sculptor  Martin  van  den  Bogaert  (Des- 
jardins).  Beneath  it  was  the  inscription,  Viro  Im- 
mortali. 

On  the  marriage  of  the  Duke  d'Anjou  to  Henri- 
etta of  England,  the  King,  his  brother,  gave  him  the 
use  of  the  Palais  Royal.  After  the  ceremony,  which 
took  place  in  the  palace  chapel  on  the  31st  of  March, 
1661,  the  young  couple  accompanied  the  King  and 
Queen  and  the  entire  court  to  Fontainebleau  to  spend 
the  summer  season,  and  on  their  return  established 
themselves  in  Richelieu's  old  abode.  The  wing  which 
the  Cardinal  had  planned  on  the  west  facing  the  Rue 
Richelieu  had  never  been  finished  ;  the  paviKon  on 
that  side  had  been  occupied  by  the  Comte  de  Brion, 
from  whom  it  took  the  name  of  Palais  Brion,  and 
later,  as  we  said  above,  by  the  Academy  of  Paint- 
ing.    It  was  here,  too,  that  Mile,  de  la  Valliere  was 


LOUIS  XIV.  375 

lodged  after  she  left  the  service  of  Madame,  the 
King's  sister-in-law. 

Monsieur  was  devoted  to  building.  Under  him  the 
galleries  of  the  Cardinal  were  restored  and  magnifi- 
cently decorated,  the  wing  on  the  Rue  Richelieu  fin- 
ished, and  a  new  wing  built  to  connect  it  with  the 
buildings  on  the  left  of  the  second  court.  The  main 
part  of  these  additions,  done  under  the  direction  of 
Jules  Hardouin  Mansard,  were  not  carried  out  until 
the  King,  in  utter  violation  of  the  conditions  imposed 
by  Richelieu,  had  given  the  palace  to  his  brother  out- 
right, as  a  reward  for  his  complaisance  in  the  matter 
of  the  marriage  of  his  son,  the  Duke  de  Chartres,  with 
Mile,  de  Blois,  an  illegitimate  daughter  of  the  King. 

"  Before  the  late  Monsieur,"  writes  his  second  wife 
Madame,  Princesse  Palatine,  "  restored  the  Palais 
Royal  and  built  the  great  apartment,  this  palace  was 
abominable,  and  yet  ever  since  the  time  of  the  Queen- 
Mother  it  has  been  admired."  This  '^  great  apart- 
ment "  was  in  the  new  cross-wing.  The  fa9ade  on 
the  Rue  Richelieu  was  simply  a  carrying  out  of  Le 
Mercier's  plans — two  orders,  Ionic  and  Corinthian, 
with  a  third  of  engaged  columns,  and  a  small  attic 
above. 

Under  the  new  Duke  of  Orleans,  the  future  re- 
gent, ]\Iansard  finished  this  part,  and  on  his  death 
Oppenord,  the  architect  chosen  to  succeed  him,  built 
the  gorgeous  octagonal  chamber,  lighted  from  above, 
which  joined  it  to  the  great  apartment. 


376  PARIS. 

In  the  two  galleries,  running  the  length  of  the 
building  on  the  Rue  Richelieu  (the  Palais  Brion  with 
Mile,  de  la  Valliere's  apartments  had  entirely  disap- 
peared) Avere  hung  the  superb  collection  of  pictures 
for  which  the  Palais  Royal  became  so  celebrated. 
Doctor  Maihows  writes,  "  There  is  no  master  of 
any  note  Avho  is  not  represented  there  by  some  ad- 
mirably selected  works."  All  that  were  still  on  the 
market  of  Charles  I.'s  pictures  were  bought  for  it, 
that  is  how  Van  Dyck's  portrait  of  him  with  his 
family  comes  to  be  in  Paris  ;  and  in  Italy  the  collec- 
tion of  Prince  Livio,  containing  Correggio's  /o,  and 
that  of  Queen  Christina  with  its  masterpiece,  by 
Raphael,  a  Madonna,  which  still  goes  by  the  name 
of  the  Madonna  of  the  Orleans,  were  purchased  for 
the  regent  by  Crozat,  whom  he  had  sent  to  Rome 
for  the  purpose. 

Clement  XL  tried  to  prevent  the  removal  of  these 

pictures ;  a  number  of  them,  he  objected,  were  "  an 

outrage  on  decency  ;"  upon  which  Crozat  ended  the 

discussion  by  impudently   sending  to  inquire  of  his 

Holiness  if  that  was  why   he   wished   them  kept  in 

Rome. 

The  Gallery  of  Eneas,  so-called  from  the  series  of 

paintings  by  the  younger  Coypel,  was  the  last  of  the 
regent's  additions  to  the  Palais  Royal.  A  small  pri- 
vate stair  led  from  it  down  to  the  Jardin  des  Princes 
(now  taken  up  by  shops,  the  passageway  leading 
from  the  grand  court  to  the  Rue  Montpensier,  and  a 


LOUIS  XIV.  377 

part  of  the  street  itself),  Avhich  was  separated  from 
the  large  garden  by  a  light  iron  grating. 

We  are  told  that  when  the  work  Avas  all  finished, 
and  the  great  collection  of  paintings  hung,  the  Re- 
gent lost  interest  in  the  Palais  Rojal  and  removed 
the  scene  of  his  orgies  elsewhere ;  only  when  word 
was  sent  to  him  that  his  agents  had  bought  a  new 
masterpiece  did  he  return.  His  passion  for  pictures 
never  forsook  him. 

"  He  has  left  St.  Cloud,"  Avrites  Marais  in  June, 
1723 — only  six  months  before  his  death — "  and  come 
back  to  Paris  to  see  his  pictures." 

A  short  distance  to  the  east  of  the  Palais  Royal  is  the 
Church  of  St.  Eustache.*  Jaillot,  in  his  "  Recherches 
sur  Paris,"  says  that  he  has  been  unable  to  discover 
its  origin  or  the  name  of  its  founder.  He  states, 
however,  that  it  Avas  originally  a  chapel  dedicated  to 
Ste.  Agnes,  and  that  in  the  early  part  of  the  thir- 
teenth century  it  was  converted  into  a  parish  under 
the  name  of  St.  Eustache.  In  li?32  it  was  pvdled 
down  and  a  new  and  much  larger  building  begun. 
The  Chancellor  Seguier,  and  de  Bullion,  Superintend- 
ent of  Finances,  contributed  largely,  but  the  church 
Avas  not  finished  until  1G42,  the  main  doorway  not 
even  then.  This  church  may  be  cited  as  a  typical 
example  of  the  architecture  of  the  day. 

"  The  Renaissance,"  writes  Viollet-le-Duc,   "  had 

*  See  page  281. 


378  PAEIS. 

blotted  out  the  last  traces  of  the  old  national  art,  and 
if  for  some  time  longer  religious  buildings  still  fol- 
lowed the  general  plan  of  the  French  churches  of  the 
thirteenth  century,  the  genius  that  had  inspired  them 
was  extinguished,  despised.  They  wanted  to  apply 
the  forms  of  Roman  architecture,  which  they  barely 
knew,  to  the  system  of  construction  of  ogival 
churches,  which  they  despised  without  understand- 
ing. It  was  in  this  spirit  of  indecision  that  the  great 
Church  of  St.  Eustache  at  Paris  was  begun  and  fin- 
ished ;  a  building  poorly  conceived  and  badly  carried 
out,  a  confused  mass  of  debris  collected  from  every 
direction,  without  agreement  or  harmony." 

Colbert  was  buried  there  in  1683,  his  last  illness 
having  been  brought  on,  according  to  some  of  his 
biographers,  by  mortification  at  the  ingratitude  of  the 
King.  As  he  lay  ill  in  his  hotel  in  the  Rue  des 
Petits  Champs,  Louis  sent  one  of  his  gentlemen  to 
him  with  a  letter.  The  dying  man  pretended  to  be 
asleep  so  as  to  avoid  receiving  the  messenger,  and 
refused  to  read  the  letter.  '^  I  want  to  hear  no  more 
about  the  King ;  he  may  at  least  let  me  alone  now." 
Hated  by  his  colleagues  and  by  the  people  of  Paris, who 
insisted  on  blaming  on  him  all  the  taxes  with  which 
they  had  been  burdened  since  1672,  the  body  had  to 
be  carried  to  St.  Eustache  by  night  accompanied  by  a 
guard,  and  the  funeral  of  the  last  of  the  great  Minis- 
ters of  France — that  series  composed  of  Sully,  Riche- 
lieu, Mazarin,  and  Colbert — hurried  over  in  secret. 


LOUIS  XIV.  379 

The  church  is,  indeed,  close  to  the  Halles,  whose 
stormy  population  had  been  especially  incensed  by 
the  imposition  of  a  rental  on  the  stalls  hitherto  let 
free,  and  some  sort  of  violence  might  well  have  been 
expected  from  the  famous  dames  de  la  Halle.  These 
'^  ladies  "  had  on  more  occasions  than  one  displayed 
their  power.  In  1645,  for  instance,  a  deputation  of 
them  waited  upon  the  Queen-Mother  to  ask  that  the 
nephew  of  the  lately-deceased  titulary  of  St.  Eustache 
might  be  appointed  cure  in  his  place  ;  they  urged  as 
one  of  their  reasons  that  the  cure  had  been  a  long 
time  in  the  family,  "  descending  from  father  to  son." 
Whether  on  that  account  or  no  the  request  was 
granted,  and  the  next  day  the  following  placard  was 
found  posted  on  the  church  door  by  some  wag : 
"  Notice — The  cure  of  St.  Eustache  is  in  the  gift  of 
les  dames  de  la  Halle. ''^ 

On  certain  great  holidays,  such  as  New  Year's 
day,  or  after  a  victory,  or  on  a  royal  marriage,  a 
deputation  composed  of  fish  and  flower-women  waited 
upon  the  King — or  after  the  birth  of  a  Dauphin  on 
the  Queen — they  presented  an  enormous  bouquet, 
accompanied  by  an  appropriate  compliment,  and  in 
return  were  given  a  present  of  money  and  a  colla- 
tion. After  the  fearful  winter  of  1709,  however, 
when  the  women  of  the  Halle  started  for  Versailles, 
carrying  their  starving  children  to  exhibit,  and  de- 
termined to  ask  for  food,  they  were  stopped  at  the 
Pont  de  Sevres  and  marched  back  to  Paris  in  short 


380  PAKIS. 

order.  Eighty  years  later  they  get  there  and  con- 
duct the  return  procession  themselves. 

In  the  neighboring  cemetery  of  the  Holy  Inno- 
cents, where  a  new  cloister,  built  in  1669,  had  re- 
placed the  old  one  forming  the  northern  boundary 
of  the  Rue  de  la  Ferronnerie,  we  will  ])ause  only 
long  enough  to  note  one  new  burial.  The  registers  of 
St.  Eustache  contain  the  following  entry  : 

"  On  Thursday,  April  14,  1695,  the  defunct  Jean 
de  la  Fontaine,  one  of  the  Forty,  of  the  Academic 
Frangaise,  seventy-six  years  of  age,  living  in  the 
Rue  Platriere,  in  the  Hotel  Derval.  .  .  .  Died  on  the 
13th  of  the  present  month,  was  buried  in  the  ceme- 
tery of  the  Saints  Innocents.  Received  64  livres, 
40  sols." 

From  his  dwelling  in  the  Rue  Platriere  La  Fon- 
taine's body  must  have  been  carried  through  the 
Quartier  du  Temple.  Philip  of  Vendome,  great- 
grandson  of  Henry  IV.  and  Gabrielle  d'  Estrees,  had 
succeeded  to  the  office  of  Grand  Prior  some  eighteen 
years  before.  A  trained  soldier,  as  well  as  a  finished 
statesman,  he  did  not  take  possession  of  his  office  till 
1712,  and  then  to  gather  around  him  a  circle  of  the 
brightest  men  of  the  day.  Chaulieu,  Regnier,  the 
Abbe  Mangenot,  and  many  others  helped  to  make 
the  Grand  Prior's  Temple  suppers  famous. 

During  the  reigns  of  Louis  XIII.  and  Louis  XIV. 
an  extraordinary  number  of  churches  and  religious 
houses  were  built  in  Paris,  particularly  in  the  Quar- 


LOUIS  XIV.  381 

ter  of  the  Marais.  The  ancient  Church  of  Ste. 
Catherine  clu  Val  des  EcoHers,  founded  in  the  reign 
of  Philip- Augustus,  was  rebuilt,  and  a  relief  of  Saint 
Louis  between  the  founders — two  sergeants-at-arms 
— carved  over  the  doorway.  When  the  monks  of 
the  order  Avere  moved  to  the  Rue  St.  Antoine,  in 
1767,  the  church  was  torn  down. 

The  establishment  of  the  Madrlonnettes,  opposite 
the  Temple  enclosure,  was  founded  during  the  re- 
gency of  Marie  de  Medicis  by  a  rich  wine  merchant 
of  Paris  named  Robert  de  Montry — it  is  said  for  the 
benefit  of  two  depraved  women  whom  he  had  en- 
countered on  the  street,  and  succeeded  in  convincing 
of  the  error  of  their  ways.  Vincent  de  Paul,  in  his 
round  of  the  religious  establishments  of  the  capital, 
found  the  Madelonnettes  in  need  of  discipline,  and 
sent  four  sisters  of  the  Visitation  to  administer  it. 
A  little  later  the  convent  became  a  house  of  correc- 
tion for  young  Avomen,  and  during  the  Terror  a  sim- 
ple prison. 

Other  religious  houses  in  the  neighborhood  Avere 
the  '^Filles  du  Sauveur,"  the  Sisterhood  of  Ste.  Avoie, 
the  Daughters  of  the  Holy  Sacrament — a  boarding- 
school  for  young  girls  as  well,  which  the  Duchess 
d'Aiguillon  installed  in  1684  in  the  superb  Hotel  de 
Turenne — and  the  Daughters  of  Calvary,  whose  vast 
enclosure  occupied  the  site  of  the  present  streets  of 
Menilmontant  and  Bretagne ;  Pere  Joseph,  Riche- 
lieu's active  lieutenant,  founded  the  order  and  Mme. 


382  PAEIS. 

de  Combalet,  the  Minister's  niece,  laid  the  corner- 
stone of  the  mother  establishment  in  the  "  Marais  du 
Temple."  Pere  Joseph  had  expressed  a  wish  to  be 
buried  in  their  chapel,  but  on  his  death  the  Capucins 
of  the  Rue  St.  Honore  claimed  the  body,  and  the 
Daughters  of  Calvary  had  to  be  satisfied  with  the 
heart,  which,  with  his  Capucin  cloak,  was  preserved 
as  a  relic.  Then  there  Avere  the  Blue  Annonciades, 
or  "  Blue  Girls  "  as  they  were  commonly  called  from 
the  color  of  their  cloaks,  an  order  established  in  Paris 
in  the  Rue  Culture  Ste.  Catherine  by  the  Marquise 
of  Verneuil.  Later  the  Countess  of  Hameaux  built 
them  a  church,  beautiful  in  itself  and  containing  some 
valuable  paintings,  as  the  altar-piece  of  the  Annun- 
ciation, by  Poussin.  All  of  these  communities  were 
suppressed  at  the  beginning  of  the  Revolution,  and 
the  buildings  either  torn  down  or  devoted  to  secular 
purposes. 

The  quarter  contained  two  hospitals,  that  of  the 
"Enfants  Rouges,"  or  "  Enfants  Dieu,"  and  that  of 
the  Hospitalieres,  called  '^  of  the  Place  Royale."  The 
former  was  founded  by  Francis  I.  at  the  request  of 
his  sister,  Marguerite  de  Navarre,  for  the  benefit  of 
orphans  from  the  Hotel  Dieu.  These  children  were 
always  to  be  called  Enfants  Dieu — Grod's  children — 
and  at  first  were  dressed  in  red,  to  indicate  that  their 
carnal  wants  were  supplied  by  charity.  The  Gothic 
church  of  this  establishment  was  chiefly  remarkable 
for  its  stained  glass,  thought  to  have  been  made  from 


LOUIS  XIV.  383 

designs  of  Jean  Cousin.  Two  of  the  windows  rep- 
resented Francis  I.  and  his  sister  caressing  little 
children ;  others  showed  scenes  from  the  life  of 
Christ.  "  The  window  where  Jesus  Christ  is  seen 
fondling  the  little  children  whom  some  women  pre- 
sent to  him,"  writes  Sauval,  "  is  undeniably  one  of  the 
most  beautiful,  as  well  as  the  best,  designed  and 
painted  in  all  Paris."  And  yet  when  the  hospital  was 
suppressed  in  1772  it  did  not  occur  to  any  one  to 
save  these  wonderful  windows,  which  for  upwards  of 
two  hundred  years  had  been  the  admiration  and 
delight  of  connoisseurs. 

The  church  and  monastery  of  Mercy  in  the  Rue 
de  Chaume  were  built  by  the  architect  Pierre  Cot- 
tard  for  the  Seigneur  de  Braque,  Marie  de  Medicis 
giving  the  ground  on  the  yearly  payment  of  a  taper, 
to  be  presented  by  the  monks  to  the  Queen  on  Can- 
dlemas Day.  The  portal,  with  its  engaged  Corin- 
thian columns,  was  finished  in  the  eighteenth  century 
by  Boffrand,  who  added  an  entablature  of  composite 
order.  On  the  high  altar  were  two  fine  statues  by 
Frangois  Auguier.  When  the  Barbary  Corsairs  were 
finally  driven  out  of  the  Mediterranean,  the  object 
for  which  this  order  had  been  founded  ceased  to  ex- 
ist. Nevertheless,  the  monks  continued  to  occupy 
their  convent  until  the  suppression  of  the  religious 
orders  in  1790. 

The  large  and  rich  Church  of  the  Minimes,  near 
the  Place  Roy  ale,  was  dedicated  in  1679  ;  the  chapels 


384  PARIS. 

were  ornamented  with  the  tombs  of  the  various  noble 
families  who  had  built  them,  the  Colberts,  Valois, 
Angoulemes,  and  so  on.  The  valuable  library  be- 
longing to  the  monastery,  collected  by  Pere  Jacob, 
the  leading  bibliographer  of  the  seventeenth  century, 
became  national  property  on  the  suppression  of  the 
order  in  1790 — -at  the  same  time  that  the  monuments 
were  taken  to  the  Museum  of  "•  Monuments  Fran- 
gais  "  and  the  pictures  scattered  about  among  differ- 
ent galleries. 

In  addition  to  the  churches  and  religious  houses  so 
numerous  in  this  quarter,  the  Marais  was  tilled  with 
elegant  palaces,  some  of  them  old,  but  many  of  them 
restored  or  built  outright  in  the  reigns  of  Louis  XIII. 
and  Louis  XIV.  With  two  of  these,  the  Hotels  de 
Soubise  and  de  Strasbourg,  we  will  speak  more  par- 
ticularly in  the  next  chapter. 

The  Palais  de  la  Cite  meantime  had  become  more 
and  more  crowded.  In  1671  the  President,  M.  de 
Lamoignon,  obtained  a  decree  from  the  Council  al- 
lowing him  to  take  all  the  space  that  could  be  spared 
from  the  garden  of  the  Bailliage  in  order  to  add  two 
new  courts  to  the  hotel ;  by  this  means  there  was 
added  to  the  Palais  the  Salle  Nciwe,  a  long  continu- 
ation of  the  Prisoner's  Gallery  extending  as  far  as 
the  Rue  de  Harlay,  and,  what  was  of  almost  as  much 
importance,  two  new  issues,  one  on  the  Place  Dau- 
phine,  by  the  Court  de  Harlay,  and  the  other  on  the 
Quai  de  I'Horloge.     Some  new  means  of  egress  had 


LOUIS  XIV.  385 

become  absolutely  necessary  in  order  to  disencumber 
what  the  royal  decree  calls  "  the  avenues  of  the 
Palais,  now  the  centre  of  the  town,  and  the  spot 
most  resorted  to  by  its  inhabitants." 

The  garden  of  the  Bailliage  did  not  disappear  en- 
tirely, however;  a  narrow  strip  was  left^along  the  side 
of  the  Cour  Neuve,  and  another  larger  one  on  the 
left  side  of  the  Rue  Jerusalem,  reaching  behind  the 
houses  on  the  Quai  des  Orfevres  as  far  as  the  Rue 
de  Harlay.  Lamoignon,  in  a  letter  written  in  1680, 
speaks  of  the  "  curious  flowers  "  his  mother  cultivated 
there,  with  the  aid  of  a  certain  gardener  who  had 
^'  commerce  avec  tous  les  curieux  de  fleurs." 

A  serious  accident  that  occurred  some  years  later 
necessitated  the  rebuilding  of  the  Hotel  du  Bailliage 
— Saint  Simon  has  left  an  account  of  it. 

"  On  the  18th  of  the  same  month  "  (November, 
1707),  "the  First  President  being  at  dinner  at  home 
in  the  Palais  with  his  family  and  a  number  of  Coun- 
cillors, the  floor  suddenly  gave  way,  and  they  all  fell 
into  a  cellar  where  there  were  some  beams,  which 
prevented  them  from  falling  all  the  way  to  the  bot- 
tom and  from  being  injured  as  well ;  the  children's 
tutor  was  the  only  one  who  was  hurt.  The  lady- 
President  was  so  placed  that  she  was  the  only  one 
who  did  not  fafl.  They  were  all  terribly  frightened, 
the  First  President  so  much  so  that  he  has  never 
been  the  same  man  since."  When  Boffrand  was 
charged,  though   not   till   five   years   later,  with  the 

25 


386  PAEIS. 

task  of  repairing  the  hotel,  he  did  it  very  thoroughly, 
and  added  a  new  gallery. 

Louis  XIV. 's  connection  with  the  Palais  de  Justice 
begins  and  ends  Avith  a  single  occurrence.  In  1655 
though  the  Fronde  had  been  finally  put  down,  the 
Parliament  gave  signs  of  renewed  agitations,  Maza- 
rin  cut  them  short  by  a  prompt  and  energetic  inter- 
vention on  the  part  of  the  young  King.  On  the  15th 
of  August  the  First  President  received  a  "  lettre  de 
cachet "  announcing  that  a  "  bed  of  justice  "  woidd 
be  held  the  next  day.  The  Parliament  was  assem- 
bled in  the  Grand  Chamber  when  Louis,  who  had 
been  himting  at  Vincennes,  arrived  in  boots  and  rid- 
ing-coat (Voltaire  adds  a  whip,  to  complete  the  pict- 
ure, doubtless).  He  was  received  with  the  usual 
ceremonial,  and  taking  his  place  on  the  raised  dais 
in  the  left  corner,  proceeded  at  once  to  the  point. 
"  Every  one  knows,"  said  he,  "  all  the  troubles  that 
have  been  caused  by  the  assemblies  of  Parliament. 
I  wish  to  guard  against  these  in  future ;  I  wish 
to  put  a  stop  to  those  already  begun,  by  the  edicts 

that  I  have  brought  with  me Monsieur  le 

President,  I  forbid  you  to  allow  any  assembly  what- 
soever." 

At  the  conclusion  of  this  speech,  which  admitted 
of  no  reply,  he  arose  and  was  escorted  out  again  with 
the  same  ceremonial  as  on  his  arrival,  and  for  the  re- 
maining sixty  years  of  his  reign  he  had  no  further 
need  to  return  to  the  Palais. 


LOUIS  XIV.  387 

One  of  the  last  works  of  this  long  reign  was  the 
reconstruction  of  the  "Samaritaine"  on  the  Pont  Neuf, 
long  in  a  semi-ruinous  condition.  The  tremendous 
breaking  up  of  the  ice  in  the  river  in  1709  had  so 
weakened  its  piles  that  three  years  later  the  whole 
had  to  be  rebuilt.  The  designs  were  furnished  by 
Robert  de  Cotte,  first  architect  to  the  King.  It  was 
in  three  stories,  the  first  resting  on  piles,  with  win- 
dows overlooking  the  water ;  the  second  on  a  line 
with  the  bridge,  and  the  third  into  which  the  ncAv 
clock  was  built.  Below  this  were  the  figures  of  Christ 
and  the  woman  of  Samaria,  carved  by  Philippe  Ber- 
trand  and  Rene  Fremin,  while  between  them  a  stream 
of  water  flowed  from  the  mouth  of  a  carved  head  of 
a  monster  into  a  basin  below.  The  bells  of  the  new 
chimes,  cast  by  Drouart  and  Ninville,  occupied  a 
gilded  campanile  above  the  clock.  The  concierge  in 
charge  of  the  reconstructed  "  Samaritaine  "  had  the 
privilege  of  renting  out  the  lower  story,  from  which 
a  stair  fashioned  between  the  piles  led  down  to  the 
water.  "We  find  the  Duchess  de  Bourbon  lodging 
there  in  the  summer  of  1717,  in  order  to  take  the 
baths,  and  being  driven  away,  too,  by  the  couplets 
composed  about  her  and  the  too  attentive  Marquis  de 
Lassay,  by  the  poets  of  the  bridge. 

For  sixty  years,  as  we  have  seen,  Louis  had  not 
so  much  as  recognized  the  Parliament ;  nevertheless, 
as  his  end  approached  he  could  think  of  no  better 
persons  to  draw  up  the  will  (by  which  he  proposed 


388  PAEis. 

to  supplant  the  Duke  of  Orleans  in  everything  but 
the  name  of  Regent,  in  favor  of  his  bastard  son,  the 
Duke  of  Maine)  than  the  Chancellor  Voysin  and  the 
First  President  de  Mesme,  nor  any  safer  place  in 
which  to  deposit  it  than  the  Palais  itself.  The  King's 
architect,  Boffrand,  constructed  a  safe  in  the  thick- 
ness of  the  wall  of  the  Tour  de  Montgommery  fur- 
nished with  iron-bound  doors,  heavy  bolts,  and  bars. 
The  utmost  secrecy  was  observed,  not  only  as  to  the 
hiding-place,  but  the  contents  of  the  will,  known  only 
to  Mme.  de  Maintenon,  who  had  inspired  it,  and  a 
few  others.  The  secret  leaked  out,  however,  and  M. 
de  Maisons,  an  ardent  supporter  of  the  Duke  d'Or- 
leans,  tried  to  persuade  the  latter  to  attempt  to  carry 
the  document  off  by  a  coup  de  main.  His  plan  was 
to  have  an  armed  force  in  readiness,  and  at  the 
moment  of  the  King's  death  to  invest  the  Palais,  in- 
troduce masons  and  locksmiths  into  the  Tower,  and 
so  to  cause  the  will  to  disappear.  But  the  Duke's 
methods,  though  less  romantic,  were  much  surer ;  he 
first  secured  the  support  of  the  members  by  holding 
out  hopes  of  restoring  its  lost  powers  to  the  Parlia- 
ment, and  then  on  the  day  following  the  King's  death 
met  them  and  the  Peers  in  the  Grand'  Chambre. 
All  the  approaches  to  the  Palais  were  closely 
Avatched  by  a  regiment  of  the  guard,  bought  with 
the  sum  of  six  hundred  thousand  Uvres,  paid  over  to 
the  Duke  de  Guiche.  After  such  precautions  as 
these  the  matter  went  smoothly  enough.     The  Duke 


LOUIS  xrv.  389 

had  the  will  brought  and  read  aloud ;  he  then  pro- 
tested against  its  clauses,  calling  upon  those  pres- 
ent to  support  him,  and  promising  to  restore  the 
"  right  of  remonstrance  "  to  the  Parliament  from  the 
moment  when  he  should  be  master.  Before  the 
King's  party  could  even  open  their  lips  the  vote 
was  taken  and  the  will  annulled  by  almost  unani- 
mous consent,  and  then,  "  as  it  was  noon,  they  all 
went  to  dinner." 

Ten  days  later  a  carefully  arranged  imitation  of  a 
"  lit  de  justice  "  was  held  by  order  of  the  Ilegent. 
The  little  five-year-old  King,  accompanied  by  his 
governess,  Mme.  de  Ventadour,  who  seated  herself 
on  the  steps  of  the  throne,  took  his  place  in  the 
Grand'  Chambre,  removed  his  hat,  replaced  it,  and 
repeated  his  lesson  : 

"  I  am  here,  gentlemen,  to  assure  you  of  my  affec- 
tion. Monsieur  the  Chancellor  will  make  known  to 
you  my  wishes."  Upon  which  the  Chancellor  Voy- 
sin  proceeded  solemnly  to  annul  Avhat  he  had  himself 
drawn  up  with  ]\Ime.  de  Maintenon's  help — it  was  a 
question  of  keeping  his  place ! 

The  changes  which  took  place  in  the  buildings 
of  the  Cite  during  Louis  XIV.'s  reign  were  gradual 
and  unimportant.  St.  Denis  de  la  Chartre  was  re- 
stored and  richly  decorated  by  Gabriel  Leduc,  by 
order  of  Anne  of  Austria.  The  bas-relief  of  the 
high  altar,  carved  out  of  a  single  piece  of  stone  by 
Michel  Anguier,  was  so  greatly  valued  by  the  war- 


390  PAEIS. 

dens  of  the  church  that  they  went  to  the  expense  of 
having  it  painted  and  varnished  ! 

Leduc  at  the  same  time  designed  a  new  high  altar 
for  St.  Bartholomew,  while  at  St.  Pierre  des  Arcis 
the  architect  Lanchenu  constructed  a  Greek  portal 
which  Avas  pronounced  to  be  "  in  good  taste,"  the 
highest  meed  of  praise  of  the  day. 

The  ancient  Church  of  St.  Eloi  was  entirely  re- 
built in  1703  by  Cartaud,  its  portal,  greatly  praised 
by  Blondel  in  his  Architecture  Fran^aise,  being  re- 
moved to  the  Church  of  the  Blancs-Manteaux,  when 
the  building  was  demolished,  as  late  as  the  middle  of 
the  present  century. 

When  Louis  XIV.  and  Marie  Therese  made  their 
"magnificent  and  triumphant  entry  into  their  good 
city  of  Paris,"  in  1660,  the  Pont  Notre  Dame,  newly 
restored,  was  adorned  with  a  great  deal  of  imitation 
magnificence  ;  imitation  bronze  and  imitation  marble 
were  used  lavishly,  and  the  results  were  so  much  ad- 
mired that  it  was  determined  to  keep  them  there 
when  the  fete  Avas  over.  The  grand  triumphal  arch, 
made  of  wood  and  painted  canvas,  at  the  south  end 
of  the  bridge,  was  only  rivalled  in  elegance  by  the 
one  on  the  south  side  of  the  island  at  the  end  of  the 
Marche  Neuf,  where  the  King  and  Queen,  as  Her- 
cules and  Minerva,  were  represented,  with  Mercury 
uniting  them,  no  other  than  Cardinal  Mazarin. 
These  decorations  were  probably  prepared  for  the 
same  purpose  as  those  whose  object  is  so  naively  ex- 


LOUIS  XIV.  391 

pressed  in  the  registers  recording  the  entry  of  Henry 
II.,  "  that  the  people  might  not  have  to  loiter  about 
for  nothing  while  awaiting  the  entiy  of  the  said  King." 

It  was  not  until  some  yeai's  later  that  Bullet  erected 
an  elegant  Ionic  doorway  in  the  middle  of  the  Notre 
Dame  bridge,  leading  to  the  great  pumps  established 
by  the  city  to  supply  a  number  of  new  fountains. 
These  pumps  Avere  built  on  a  sort  of  floating  plat- 
form, and  thus  were  always  at  exactly  the  same  dis- 
tance from  the  level  of  the  water,  a  contrivance 
noted  with  much  admiration  by  contemporary  writers. 

In  1699  Louis  XIV.  began  the  decorations  of  the 
choir  of  Notre  Dame,  which  led  to  the  despoiling  of 
the  Cathedral  of  so  much  that  was  not  only  beautiful 
in  itself,  but  of  the  greatest  historic  interest.  The 
choir  stalls,  the  tombs  with  which  it  was  paved,  and  the 
wonderful  stained  glass  belonging  to  the  twelfth  cen- 
tury, all  disappeared  before  the  commonplace  taste 
of  the  day.  The  new  pavement  was  made  of  uni- 
form squares  of  marble,  and  the  remains  of  the  arch- 
bishops, who  were  thus  ruthlessly  turned  out  of  their 
resting-places,  transferred  to  a  crypt  dug  out  for  the 
purpose.  It  was,  by  the  way,  in  making  this  crypt  in 
1711  that  the  remains  of  the  altar  to  Jupiter,  spoken 
of  in  the  early  part  of  this  book,  were  discovered.* 

Soufflot,  in  whom  the  chapter  placed  entire  confi- 
dence, directed  the  alterations  of  the  second   half 

*  See  pages  61,  68,  110  and  114. 


392  PAEIS. 

of  the  eighteenth  century.  He  destroyed  the  pillar 
which  had  divided  the  great  west  door,  cut  the  carv- 
ing of  the  Last  Judgment  in  two,  and  mutilated  a 
quantity  of  other  treasures  of  art  which  for  him  and 
the  men  of  his  time  had  become  dead  letters.  He 
had  not,  as  M.  Edouard  Drumont  says,  the  fury  that 
inspires  an  iconoclast  to  excuse  him,  but  only  the  com- 
placent self-satisfaction  of  ignorance. 

On  crossing  the  river  to  the  left  bank  we  find  that 
many  changes  have  taken  place,  not  only  in  the  Uni- 
versity quarter  itself,  but  in  those  new  faubourgs 
which  have  grown  up  beyond  it. 

At  the  extreme  north-east  limit  of  this  quarter  the 
Porte  St.  Bernard,  standing  close  to  the  Tournelle, 
and  dating  from  the  time  of  Philip- Augustus,  was 
converted  in  1674  into  a  triumphal  arch.  This  work, 
designed  to  glorify  Louis  XIV.  in  his  character  of  a 
benefactor  and  patron  of  commerce,  was  carried  out 
by  Blondel ;  it  was  adorned  with  bas-reliefs  repre- 
senting the  "Grand  roi"  dispensing  abundance  among 
his  grateful  people,  but  it  only  stood  imtil  the  latter 
part  of  the  reign  of  Louis  XVI. 

South,  and  a  little  to  the  west  of  this,  was  estab- 
lished the  manufactory  of  Grobelin  tapestry,  which 
we  still  find  occupying  the  same  site.  Henry  IV. 
had  employed  certain  master-weavers,  Comans  and 
La  Planche,  to  manufacture  these  tapestries,  but 
their  children  and  successors  had  parted  company  in 
1629.     The  Comans  took  a  house  belonging  to  the 


LOUIS  XIV.  393 

family  of  the  dyer  Gobelin ;  it  was  in  the  Faubourg 
St.  Marcel,  on  the  little  Bievre  river,  whose  waters, 
beside  being  especially  esteemed  for  the  process  of 
dyeing,  Avere  used  as  power  for  the  machinery.  Fou- 
quet  had  indulged  his  taste  for  magnificence  by  set- 
ting up  a  studio  of  tapestry  in  the  village  of  Maincy, 
the  products  of  which  were  to  swell  the  magnificent 
collections  in  his  chateau  near  by ;  Le  Brun  was 
placed  in  charge.  When  the  Superintendent  of  Fi- 
nances fell  into  disgrace  in  1661  the  King  seized  the 
antique  tapestries,  and  transplanted  those  in  pro- 
cess of  manufacture,  together  with  the  looms,  etc., 
to  the  Gobelin  house  on  the  left  bank,  which  was  now 
formally  established  as  a  royal  factory,  not  only  for 
tapestry  but  for  all  sorts  of  furniture,  with  Le  Brun 
for  director.  In  1699  all  the  other  departments,  as 
embroidery,  bronze,  ebony,  and  mosaic  work,  were 
suppressed,  and  from  then  until  now,  through  all  the 
vicissitudes  of  wars  and  revolutions,  this  establish- 
ment has  continued  to  exist  as  the  3Ianufacture  des 
Gobelins.  Proceeding  to  the  west,  we  reach  the  spot 
chosen  by  Colbert  and  Perrault  for  the  NatioHal  Ob- 
servatory which  the  King,  acting  on  his  Minister's 
advice,  was  about  to  found.  Cassini,  after  some  per- 
suasion, having  agreed  to  take  charge  of  it,  Perrault's 
hastily  prepared  plans  were  accepted  and  the  build- 
ing begun.  In  1672  it  was  finished,  but  on  Cassini's 
arrival  he  found  it  entirely  unsuited  to  its  object, 
Perrault  declined  to  make  any  change,  and  the  King 


394  PARIS. 

sustained  him.  (Le  Brim's  picture  represents  Cassini 
and  the  architect  appearing  before  Louis  XIV.  to 
submit  the  question  to  him.)  The  small  tower  on 
the  upper  terrace  was  finally  built  in  order  that  there 
might  be  some  place  from  which  observations  could 
be  taken.  The  building  is  entirely  of  stone,  neither 
iron  nor  wood  being  used  in  its  construction ;  it  is  a 
rectangle,  the  four  sides  corresponding  to  the  four 
cardinal  points,  and  the  latitude  of  the  south  fagade 
being  identical  with  that  of  Paris.  Through  the 
large  hall  of  the  second  floor  is  traced  the  meridian 
of  Paris,  and  the  intersecting  point  of  these  two  Hnes 
is  the  base  from  which  all  the  maps  of  France  are  con- 
structed ;  the  first  complete  one  dates  from  Cassini's 
time. 

To  re-enter  the  city  we  will  not  pass  through  the 
ancient  gateway  of  St.  Michel,  for  in  1684  this  was 
torn  down  and  replaced  by  a  fountain  etill  in  exist- 
ence in  the  middle  of  this  century.  It  stood  at  the 
end  of  the  Rue  St.  Hyacinthe,  and  bore  the  follow- 
ing inscription,  composed  by  Santeul : 

Hoc  in  monte  suos  reserat  sapientia  fontes. 
Ne  tamen  banc  pnri  respiie  fontis  aquam. 

It  was  Louis  XIV.  who  introduced  the  study  of 
French  jurisprudence  into  the  law  schools  of  the  Uni- 
versity, those  ancient  schools  which  we  have  seen 
established  in  the  Rue  St.  Jean  de  Beauvais,  on  the 
left  bank  of  the  river.     On  December  28,  1679,  M. 


LOUIS  XIV.  395 

de  Launay,  Parliamentary  advocate,  opened  his  course 
of  lectures  with  an  address  delivered  in  French.  "To- 
day/' said  he,  "  when  we  behold  the  language  of  our 
own  land  raised  nearly  to  the  level  of  Greek  and 
Latin,  would  it  not  be  an  insult  to  have  recourse  to  a 
foreign  language  in  which  to  expound  a  system  of 
jurisprudence  which  she  has  formulated  ?"  It  was 
not,  however,  until  a  century  later  that  the  buildings 
of  the  law  schools  in  any  way  corresponded  to  the 
dignity  and  importance  of  their  functions. 

It  may  be  worth  while  to  note,  in  passing,  that  the 
monument  to  Jacques  Souvre,  by  Francois  Anguier, 
which  is  now  preserved  in  the  Louvre,  was  placed  in 
the  Commanderie  de  St.  Jean  de  Latran,  just  oppo- 
site the  old  law  schools,  during  this  reign. 

The  College  of  Beauvais  was  placed  under  the  di- 
rection of  Rollin  in  1697,  and  during  the  fifteen  years 
of  his  administration  reached  the  highest  state  of 
prosperity.  Unfortunately  he  became  involved  in 
the  Jansenist  dispute,  and  was  finally  expelled  by 
order  of  the  King.  The  scholars,  who  seem  to  have 
changed  wonderfully  in  character  and  habits  since  the 
roystering  days  of  the  early  part  of  the  seventeenth 
century,  are  described  as  bursting  into  tears  when 
the  news  was  brought.  "  There  was  nothing  but 
weeping  and  sobbing.  .  .  .  Presently  they  all  with- 
drew to  their  rooms,  in  order  to  give  themselves  up 
more  freely  to  their  grief!" 

On  the  25th  of  June,   16G7,  a  solemn  procession 


396  PAKIS. 

wound  its  way  up  through  the  narrow  streets  of  tlie 
Montague  Ste.  Geneviev^e  bearing  the  remains  of 
Descartes,  sent  from  Stockhohn,  where  he  had  died, 
for  burial  in  the  Church  of  Ste.  Genevieve.  The 
abbot,  wearing  his  miter  and  carrying  the  cross,  ac- 
companied by  all  the  canons,  met  the  cortege  at  the 
door,  and  when  the  vesper  services  for  the  dead  were 
over,  the  body  was  interred  in  a  place  hollowed  out 
for  it  between  the  chapels  of  Ste.  Genevieve  and  St. 
Francis. 

On  the  following  day  the  funeral  oration  was  to  be 
delivered  by  M.  Pierre  Lallemand.  Just,  however, 
as  he  was  about  to  mount  to  the  pulpit  at  the  con- 
clusion of  the  service,  a  prohibition  arrived  from  the 
Court.  Louis  XIV.,  doubtless  misinformed  as  to  the 
nature  of  Descartes'  teachings,  refused  to  allow  the 
author  of  Meditations  Mctapliysiqiies  to  be  freely 
eulogized  in  a  Christian  church. 

Ever  since  their  return  imder  Henry  IV.  the 
Jesuits  had  devoted  themselves  more  and  more  to 
the  instruction  of  youth.  As  their  power  increased, 
and  the  opposition  to  them  weakened,  their  success 
in  this  particular  line  of  activity  grew  more  pro- 
nounced. Soon  their  College  of  Clermont  becoming 
too  small,  new  buildings  must  be  added,  and  accord- 
ingly who  do  we  find  laying  the  corner-stone  in  1628 
but  the  Prevot  de  la  Ville,  accompanied  by  the  four 
sheriffs,  whose  sons  are  being  educated  by  the  order. 

To   commemorate  this  event  medals  were  struck 


LOUIS  XIV.  397 

bearing  a  likeness  of  the  King  and  the  arms  of  the 
city.  The  University  protested,  but  quite  uselessly, 
and  the  Jesuits,  now  fully  embarked  on  that  stream 
of  success  and  prosperity  which  was  to  carry  them 
so  long  and  so  far,  presently  acquired  some  of  the 
University  property  itself — i.e.,  the  Colleges  of  Mar- 
montiers  and  Mans.  It  was  when  this  last  transac- 
tion was  finally  accomplished,  through  the  good  offices 
of  the  King,  that  the  order  out  of  gratitude  changed 
the  name  of  their  establishment  to  the  one  it  still 
bears — College  Louis  le  Grand. 

Quite  close,  in  the  College  of  Plessis,  we  are  again 
reminded  of  Rollin,  as  it  was  here  that  he  was  educated. 
A  contemporary  describes  his  emotion  on  revisiting 
it  in  the  character  of  rector  and  meeting  his  former 
principal  and  masters. 

On  the  6th  of  February,  1661,  twelve  doctors 
were  gathered  in  consultation  in  one  of  the  rooms  of 
the  Palais  Mazarin.  Guenaud  undertook  the  difficult 
task  of  announcing  the  result  to  the  patient — Maza- 
rin. It  was  a  sentence  of  death,  but  the  Cardinal, 
who  had  rightly  interpreted  before  this  the  anxiety 
expressed  on  the  faces  of  some  of  those  about  him, 
and  the  barely  dissimulated  joy  on  those  of  others, 
received  the  news  calmly.  His  imitation  of  Richelieu 
seemed  destined  to  be  carried  out  to  the  very  end. 
Richelieu  was  fifty-eight  when  he  died,  and  had  ruled 
France  for  eighteen  years.  Mazarin  was  the  same 
age,  and  had  entered  upon  the  eighteenth  year  of  his 


398  PARIS. 

ministry.     Such  coincidences  were  not  without  their 
effect  upon  him. 

Just  a  month  later  he  sent  for  two  "notaires  garde- 
notes  "  of  the  Chatelet,  and  with  admirable  lucidity 
dictated  to  them  the  entire  plan  for  the  foundation 
of  a  college  to  be  called  after  his  name,  and  to  con- 
tain his  library.  Every  detail  was  entered  into  with 
the  most  minute  care. 

The  courses,  entirely  free,  were  to  be  for  the 
benefit  of  sixty  young  men  of  good  family,  natives 
of  the  provinces  which  had  been  acquired  by  France 
during  his  ministry. 

The  academy,  Avhich  was  to  supplement  the  edu- 
cation gained  in  the  college,  was  only  to  receive  fif- 
teen. It  must  be  remembered  that  in  the  seven- 
teenth century  the  nobility  had  not  generally  availed 
themselves  of  the  educational  facilities  of  the  uni- 
versities. The  main  point  was  to  train  their  sons  to 
be  manly  and  quick-witted,  and  to  have  them  bred 
up  in  the  manners  and  habits  of  the  great  world  in 
which  they  were  to  move.  Mazarin  had  this  in 
mind,  and  especially  provided  that  fencing,  riding 
and  dancing  were  to  be  taught  in  the  academy. 
We  may  note  here  that  his  views  were  so  little 
understood  by  those  who  were  cliarged  with  de- 
veloping them  that  the  architects  left  the  riding- 
school  out  of  their  plans,  and  the  University  struck 
out  the  entire  clause.  The  result  was  that  the  first 
families  never  had  anything  to  do  with  it,  only  the 


LOUIS  XIV.  399 

sons  of  the  poorer  nobility  deigning  to  go  there  to 
be  educated. 

But  to  return  to  Mazarin's  will  His  library,  one 
of  the  most  valuable  in  the  world  at  that  time,  was 
to  be  insured  by  every  possible  means  against  injury 
or  loss,  and  to  be  open  to  the  public  twice  a  Aveek. 
Three  days  later  he  was  dead,  and  in  little  over  a 
week  the  executors,  determined  to  carry  out  these 
generous  plans  at  once,  met  to  consult  about  the  site. 
Immediately  difficulties  arose  ;  every  plan  suggested 
met  with  some  objection.  At  one  time  it  seemed  as 
though  all  were  agreed  upon  the  Jardin  des  Plantes, 
when  suddenly  Vallot,  the  King's  head  physician, 
said  he  would  never  consent  to  the  garden  being  moved 
to  Vincennes,  as  was  proposed,  and  after  him  came 
the  rector  of  the  University  with  a  still  more  effectual 
obstacle.  He  announced  decidedly  that  he  would  re- 
fuse to  allow  the  new  college  to  be  placed  beyond  the 
limits  of  the  University ;  and  as  he  was  entirely 
within  his  rights,  that  plan  was  given  up.  Many 
others  met  with  a  like  fate. 

A  year  and  a  half  went  by  and  still  nothing  was 
decided,  when  Colbert,  who  had  never  given  up  the 
first  place  that  had  been  suggested,  namely,  the 
Petit  Nesle,  laid  before  the  King  plans  prepared 
by  Le  Vau,  who  was  then  at  work  on  the  Louvre, 
showing  the  college  buildings  describing  a  great 
semicircle,  in  the  centre  of  which  was  the  door- 
way of  the  chapel,  which  thus  faced  the  new  gallery 


400  PAEIS. 

of  the  Louvre  in  a  most  effective  manner.  That 
settled  it ;  the  King  at  once  ordered  the  adoption  of 
Le  Van's  plans,  and  that  the  buildings  should  occupy 
the  site  indicated. 

The  next  difficulty  was  to  get  possession.  Then, 
as  now,  the  value  of  property  increased  wonderfully 
when  a  purchaser  was  in  sight.  A  host  of  tenants 
and  owners  had  to  be  satisfied,  down  to  the  fishermen 
and  washwomen  who  rented  the  stalls  at  the  foot  of 
the  Tower.  Finally,  all  these  matters  being  settled, 
two  architects,  Lambert  andd'Orbay,  were  chosen  to 
assist  Le  Vau,  and  the  work  Avas  begun. 

Each  end  of  the  semicircle  was  to  terminate  in  a 
massive  pavilion.  That  on  the  west,  originally  in- 
tended for  the  riding,  dancing,  and  fencing  schools, 
bore  the  name  of  Pacilloii  dcs  Arts  up  to  the  time  of 
the  Revolution  5  the  other  stood  precisely  on  the  site 
of  the  Tour  de  Nesle,  and  was  called  the  Pavilion  de 
la  Bibliofhcque.  This  and  the  cliapel  Averc  still  unfin- 
ished when,  in  1672,  it  was  decided  to  definitely  or- 
ganize the  college. 

Fresh  difficulties  arose.  As  each  suite  of  apartments 
had  been  finished,  individuals  who  had  nothing  what- 
ever to  do  with  the  administration  of  the  college  had, 
upon  one  pretext  or  another,  established  themselves 
in  them.  The  most  embarrassing  and  difficult  to  deal 
with  of  all  these  interlopers  was  the  Due  de  Mazarin, 
the  Cardinal's  heir,  and  one  of  the  executors.  This 
personage  had  installed  himself  between  the  chapel 


LOUIS  XIV.  401 

and  the  library,  and  declined  to  leave.  His  claims 
had  to  be  submitted  to  the  Council  and  an  order 
issued  expelling  all  outsiders  from  the  building  before 
he  was  gotten  rid  of. 

Finally,  before  the  college  could  be  opened  it  was 
necessary  to  have  the  formal  consent  of  the  King  and 
the  University.  That  of  the  King  was  easy  to  get ; 
it  had,  in  fact,  been  already  given  ;  but  with  the  Uni- 
versity it  was  another  matter.  In  October,  1674, 
the  executors  presented  their  request,  humbly  asking 
that  the  new  college  be  admitted  to  the  bosom  of  the 
University.  This  was  finally  granted,  but  not  until 
many  of  the  exj)licit  provisions  of  the  founder  had 
been  done  away  with,  and  on  condition  that  the 
theatre  that  had  been  estabHshed  in  the  Rue  Guene- 
zaud  by  Moliere's  troupe  should  be  closed.  More- 
over, although  formally  organized  under  the  name  of 
the  College  Mazarin,  it  Avas  popularly  known  until 
the  Revolution  as  the  College  des  Quatre  Nations. 

There  now  remained  only  one  more  matter  to  be 
settled  before  the  courses  could  be  opened.  On  Sep- 
tember 6,  1684,  Mazarin's  body,  which  had  been  at 
Vincennes  since  his  death,  was  brought  with  much 
ceremony  and  deposited  in  the  chapel — only  the  heart 
was  claimed  by  the  "  Theatins,"  whom  he  had  first 
introduced  into  France.  Four  years  more  were  al- 
lowed to  elapse,  and  finally  in  October,  1688,  the 
college  was  opened. 

Meantime  the  King  had  been  carrying  into  execu- 
26 


402  PARIS. 

tion  a  plan  which  his  predecessors  for  many  hundreds 
of  years  had  had  in  mind.  Tliis  was  the  fomidation 
of  some  sort  of  asyhmi  for  old  and  disabled  soldiers. 
Louis  XI.  got  so  far  as  to  pension  them.  Henry  III. 
established  a  home  called  ''  La  Charite  Chretienne," 
which  was  to  be  supported  from  the  pensions  of  the 
lay  monks.  This  institution,  although  added  to  by 
Henry  IV.,  was  abolished  in  1597,  and  the  inmates 
scattered  about  in  the  different  monasteries.  Louis 
XIII.  began  the  Commandery  of  St.  Louis,  but  the 
work  was  interrupted  in  1635,  to  be  taken  up  and 
successfully  finished  by  Louis  XIV. 

The  h<5tel  which  Avas  now  founded  on  the  outskirts 
of  the  Faubourg  St.  Germain,  under  the  name  of  Les 
Invalides,  was  to  receive  as  a  part  of  its  support  a 
certain  proportion  of  the  revenues  of  such  religious 
houses  as  were  in  the  habit  of  receiving  lay  monks. 

On  the  30th  of  November,  1670,  the  King  laid  the 
corner-stone,  the  architect  being  Liberal  Bruant. 
Mansard  (the  younger),  who  succeeded  him,  carried 
out  his  plan,  but  added  to  it  the  second  building  called 
the  "Dome  des  Invalides,"  finished  only  in  1735. 

The  north  facade  is  in  three  stories,  surmounted  by 
a  "  Mansard  "  roof.  The  main  entrance  in  the  mid- 
dle was  then,  as  now,  surmounted  by  a  bas-relief  of 
Louis  XIV.  mounted,  fianked  by  statues  of  Mars  and 
Minerva.  Between  this  facade  and  the  esplanade  is 
a  coiirt,  shut  off  by  a  grating  of  gilded  iron-work, 
and  laid  out  in  flower-beds  and  grass.     A  vestibule 


LOUIS  XIV.  403 

ornamented  Avith  columns  leads  to  the  Court  of  Honor, 
a  great  open  space  surrounded  by  a  double  arcade, 
on  the  further  side  of  which  is  the  entrance  to  the 
"  eglise  St.  Louis "  belonging  to  Bruant's  plan. 
"  Conceived  in  the  same  spirit  as  the  rest  of  the 
building,  it  has  the  same  cold  grandeur."  Com- 
municating with  it,  but,  as  we  have  said,  entirely  in- 
dependent of  the  original  plan,  is  Mansard's  "  eglise 
du  Dome,"  the  entrance  to  which  from  the  south  he 
made  the  principal  portal  of  the  building.  Entering 
from  the  Place  Vauban,  we  come  first  to  a  large  and 
handsome  courtyard,  from  Avhich  a  flight  of  stairs 
leads  to  the  church,  in  the  form  of  a  Greek  cross, 
with  Doric  pillars  in  the  lower  part  and  Corinthian 
above. 

The  Dome  of  the  Invalides,  so  noticeable  a  feature 
in  all  views  of  Paris,  is  encircled  by  a  range  of  forty 
composite  columns,  and  richly  ornamented  with  tro- 
phies in  bas-relief,  the  w^hole  gilded  and  surmounted 
by  an  open-work  lantern.  "  The  details  and  orna- 
mentation of  the  Dome  attest  only  too  clearly  the  de- 
cadence of  taste,  which  became  ever  less  and  less 
pure  towards  the  close  of  the  reign,"  says  Martin  in 
his  Histoire  de  France ;  but  he  admits  that  its  gen- 
eral aspect  is  "  striking." 

One  other  feature  of  the  Paris  of  Louis  XIV.  we 
must  mention  before  closing  this  chapter,  that  is  the 
changed  aspect  of  the  boulevards  or  ramparts  with 
which  the  northern  part  of  the  city  was  protected  in 


404  PAEIS. 

1536  against  possible  attacks  of  the  English  then 
ravaging  Picardy. 

In  1668,  Avhen  suburbs  were  rapidly  growing  up, 
especially  beyond  the  northern  quarters,  and  Vauban 
had  surrounded  France  itself  with  a  triple  line  of 
fortified  places,  these  defences  were  deemed  of  no 
further  use  and  converted  into  shady  avenues,  but 
little  frequented,  though,  until  the  middle  of  the 
eighteenth  century. 

They  may  be  traced  on  the  right  bank  in  the  line 
of  the  present  Boulevards  Bourdon,  Beaumarchais, 
Filles  du  Calvaire,  Temple,  St.  Martin,  St.  Denis, 
Bonne  Nouvelle,  Poissonniere,  Montmartre,  des  Ital- 
iens,  Capucines,  and  de  la  Madeleine,  and  cease  at 
their  junction  with  wall  of  Louis  XIIL,  at  the  end  of 
the  present  Boulevard  Malesherbes.  It  is  these  that 
are  meant  when  ^^  the  Boulevards "  are  spoken  of. 
On  the  left  bank,  they  started  at  a  point  just  east  of 
the  Jardin  des  Plantcs,  and  described  a  more  irregu- 
lar semicircle,  to  the  Invalides.  The  line  is  now 
almost  effaced. 


LOUIS  XV.  405 


CHAPTER    X. 

LOUIS   XV. 

To  catch  some  thread  that  may  connect  the  isolated 
facts  of  this  chapter  it  is  necessary  to  add  but  one 
feature  to  those  which  were  described  in  the  previous 
one.  Paris,  still  in  decay,  still  touchy  and  still  ill  at 
ease,  has  suffered  a  further  evil  and  has  become  in- 
dustrial. 

The  seventy-four  years  between  the  death  of  Louis 
and  the  outbreak  of  the  Revolution  are  marked  (but 
to  a  more  intense  degree)  with  all  that  was  mentioned 
as  the  new  character  of  Paris  in  the  last  chapter. 
The  work  done  is  more  official  than  ever ;  the  gov- 
ernmental interest  less  and  less  ;  the  houses,  and  es- 
pecially the  churches,  less  than  ever  an  outcome  of 
national  or  civic  feeling.  But  added  to  this,  great 
suburbs  grow  up,  to  add  to  her  discomfort  and  to  her 
lack  of  security.  In  Paris  of  the  seventeenth  cen- 
tury the  bourgeois  owned  his  own  house  ;  he  does  so 
in  the  "  TartufFe  "  of  Moliere,  and  you  may  perceive 
in  that  admirable  })lay  how  those  great  buildings  were 
filled  all  by  one  family — the  shop  or  office  on  the 
ground  floor,  the  servants  in  the  Mansard  roof  'i'lie 
next  liundrcd  years  saw  this  changed  for  the  worse. 
A  growing  proletariat,  a  growing  capitalism,  a  grow- 


406  PAKIS. 

ing  salaried  class  have  (so  to  speak)  "  cut "  these 
great  houses  transversely.  Men  live  in  flats — apart- 
ments— the  unity  of  the  household  has  disappeared. 
It  is  an  evil  from  which  the  great  French  cities  suf- 
fer to-day. 

As  Paris  becomes  industrial  she  increases  largely 
in  population ;  she  is  overburdened  with  it,  the  town 
overflows.  In  the  Revolutionary  turmoil  we  are 
always  hearing  of  the  "  faubourgs,"  the  "  suburbs  " 
of  St.  Antoine  or  St.  Marceau.  These  are  the  ir- 
regular, scattered,  thickly-populated  groups  of  houses 
to  the  east.  When  the  Revolution  was  on  the  point 
of  breaking  out  Paris  had  certainly  more  than 
six  hundred  thousand,  perhaps  nearer  a  million, 
souls  in  all.  And  this  increase  was  of  the  character 
that  so  gravely  threatens  our  modern  civilization. 
I  mean  it  was  a  new  horde  of  families,  without  capi- 
tal, depending  upon  centraHzed  wealth,  and  destined 
to  suff"er,  in  any  economic  crisis,  the  most  acute 
misery,  or  perhaps  to  die.  Such  was  the  populace 
which  the  Revolution  worked  upon,  and  which  was 
often  its  arm.  Paris  and  France,  wherein  to-day  the 
proletariat  form  a  smaller  proportion  than  in  any 
modern  city  or  state,  was  given  over,  a  hundred 
years  ago,  to  a  population  more  proletariat  than  in 
any  other  place.  No  contrast  more  striking  than 
this  is  to  be  discovered  in  Europe — England  and 
London,  once  the  centre  of  the  "bourgeoisie"  and  of 
small  capital,  becoming  the  highly  capitalistic;  France 


LOUIS  XV.  407 

and  Paris,  once  the  cliief  centre  of  opposed  wealth 
and  poverty,  becommg  the  egalitarian  type. 

In  this  Paris,  also,  the  old  institutions  were  prac- 
tically dead.  The  University  flourished  after  a 
fashion,  but  the  convents  were  empty  (that  is,  com- 
pared with  the  generations  before).  The  churches  I 
will  not  say  were  empty  too,  but  no  such  sight  as  the 
modern  Christmas  and  Easter  could  be  seen  in  them. 

Side  by  side  with  this  proletariat  stood  all  that 
mass  Avhich  avc  call  the  "  old  regime,"  guilds  which 
excluded  the  people,  nobles  no  longer  noble  but 
poverty-stricken  (the  rich  were  at  court),  a  priest- 
hood that  did  not  seek  the  poor,  and  a  thousand  rules, 
customs  and  laws  designed  for  all,  applied  to  a  few, 
and  finally  rusted  out  of  all  knowledge  and  ceasing  to 
affect  any  citizen  at  all,  save  for  hindrance. 

In  such  a  period  we  wall  hardly  expect  to  find  any 
great  architectural  undertakings,  and  in  fact  the 
changes  that  came  over  the  outward  aspect  of  Paris 
in  the  reign  of  Louis  XV.  are  largely  ones  of  decay 
and  neglect.  It  is  true  that  these  would  have  been 
diversified  by  at  least  two  deliberate  and  irreparable 
blunders  but  for  chance  intervention  ;  one  of  these 
threatened  the  Hotel  de  Ville,  and  the  other  the 
Louvre.  It  had  been  complained  for  a  long  time 
that  both  the  Hotel  de  Ville  and  the  Place  de  Greve 
were  too  small,  not  for  their  proper  functions,  but 
for  the  great  fetes  held  there  on  such  occasions — 
for  example,  as  the  celebration  of  the  King's  recov- 


408  PARIS. 

ery  at  Metz  in  1744,  when  the  Advocate  Barbier, 
after  describing  the  decorations,  adds  that  "the  PLace 
de  Greve  is  so  ugly  and  misshapen  that  the  effect  was 
poor."  The  remedy  suggested  was  to  move  the  Hotel 
de  Ville  !  Accordingly,  when  the  Prince  de  Conti, 
having  been  made  Grand  Prior  of  the  Temple,  wished 
to  sell  his  palace  near  the  College  des  Quatre  Nations, 
the  King  recommended  the  Corps  de  Ville  to  buy  it 
and  put  up  a  new  Hotel  de  Ville  on  the  site.  The  ex- 
orbitant sums  paid  for  this  and  the  adjoining  Hotel  de 
Sillery  fortunately  landed  the  municipality  into  such 
financial  difficulties  that  no  further  steps  could  be 
taken,  and  when,  seventeen  years  later,  the  King 
bought  the  Hotel  Conti  to  build  a  mint  on  the  site, 
the  plan  was  abandoned. 

During  this  period  there  were  no  more  fetes  at  the 
Greve.  When  the  Duke  of  Burgundy,  eldest  son  of 
the  Dauphin,  was  born,  the  sums  ordinarily  expended 
on  a  public  celebration  were  used  to  provide  dots  for 
'"  six  hundred  young  girls,  to  be  selected  by  the  cures 
of  the  several  parishes  and  married  by  them  to  young 
men,  natives  of  Paris,  and  known  to  be  of  irreproach- 
able conduct."  Each  groom  was  given  a  coat  made 
of  good  cloth,  and  each  bride  a  dress  of  striped  silk 
and  thread.  The  six  hundred  marriages  came  off 
on  the  9th  of  November  in  a  perfectly  orderly  man- 
ner. At  St.  Sulpice  alone  there  were  no  fewer  than 
sixty-eight,  the  city  officials  presiding  like  fairy  god- 
mothers, each  in  his  parish  church. 


LOUIS  XV.  409 

In  contrast  to  this  idyl  we  find  the  usual  accounts 
of  executions  at  the  Greve.  Those  of  Count  Horn, 
Cartouche  and  his  band,  Damiens  (who  attempted  to 
stab  Louis  XV.  in  1751),  and  the  Count  de  Lally, 
the  injustice  of  whose  sentence  Avas  formally  pro- 
claimed by  Louis  XVI.  twelve  years  after  his  death, 
being  among  the  most  notable. 

The  Louvre  meantime  was  faring  badly.  During 
the  Regency,  Louis  XV.,  living  at  the  Tuileries,  only 
went  there  occasionally  to  visit  the  little  Infanta,  who 
lodged  with  her  Spanish  suite  in  the  rooms  of  the 
Academy  of  Painting  (turned  out  for  the  purpose). 

In  the  spring  of  1722,  however,  the  project  of  the 
Spanish  marriage  was  abandoned  and  the  young 
Princess  sent  home,  leaving  as  sole  reminder  of  her 
presence  the  name  that  the  parterre  in  front  of  the 
Queen's  apartments  has  borne  ever  since,  Jardin  de 
VInfmite.  For  the  ensuing  thirty  years  or  more  the 
King  practically  forgot  the  existence  of  the  Louvre ; 
and  the  Regent  did  worse  by  annulling  the  decree 
of  Louis  XIII. ,  which  forbade  the  erection  of  new 
buildings  within  the  limits  called  the  "grand  dessein," 
or  even  the  repairing  of  old  ones  by  private  indi- 
viduals. 

The  King's  complete  indifference  will  best  be  un- 
derstood by  his  passive  acceptance  of  a  scheme 
brought  forward  diu'ing  the  ministry  of  Fleury  to 
demolish  the  Louvre  and  sell  it,  with  the  site,  for 
building  materials.     It  is  said  that  this  plan  would 


410  PAEIS. 

have  been  adopted  had  not  one  member  of  the  Council 
arisen  and  indignantly  asked  who  would  have  the 
temerity  to  carry  it  out.  "It  is  certain,"  he  added, 
"  that  whoever  strikes  the  first  blow  will  be  torn  in 
pieces  by  the  people  of  Paris." 

Though  allowed  to  stand,  its  condition  was  truly 
deplorable.  The  great  halls  and  galleries  were  di- 
vided into  quantities  of  little  rooms,  wherein  lodged 
a  herd  of  persons— almost  any  one  who  wanted  to,  in 
fact,  could  he  but  prove  connection  with  any  of  the 
academies.  On  all  sides  could  be  seen  stovepipes 
sticking  out  of  the  windows  and  vomiting  smoke  and 
soot  on  those  magnificent  walls,  whose  ruin  seemed 
to  have  been  determined  upon.  The  Queen,  although 
not  occupying  the  Louvre  in  person,  did  her  part  by 
stabling  her  horses  in  the  very  apartments — those  of 
Anne  of  Austria — that  should  have  been  her  own. 
A  number  of  persons  following  this  august  example, 
there  were  as  many  as  half  a  dozen  separate  stables 
established  there,  includiug  that  of  the  Postes,  which 
occupied  the  rez-de-chausse  of  the  east  wing,  that 
is  the  part  directly  beneath  the  Colonnade.  As  to 
this  last,  nothing  could  exceed  the  shameful  state  of 
neglect  into  which  it  had  fallen.  From  its  base,  con- 
cealed on  the  right  by  the  huge  Hotels  de  Longue- 
ville  and  de  Villequier,  and  on  the  left  by  the  Gothic 
remnant  of  the  Petit  Bourbon,  now  utilized  for  a 
storehouse,  rose  its  mighty  columns,  their  shafts  for 
the  most  part  still  unfluted,  their  capitals  unfinished, 


LOUIS  XV.  411 

and,  worse  still,  their  bases  encumbered  by  a  mass 
of  wretched  hovels  occupied  by  waifs  of  the  popula- 
tion of  Paris,  and  contributing  their  smoke  and  ref- 
use to  the  general  dilapidation. 

On  the  side  facing  towards  the  Tuileries,  from 
which  an  entire  quartier  still  separated  it,  the  Louvre 
windows  looked  out  on  a  section  of  the  ancient  moat, 
crossed  by  a  double-arched  bridge,  and  a  dreary  little 
square,  from  whence  a  flight  of  steps  was  required  to 
lead  down  to  the  Rue  Fromenteau,  so  high  had  the 
level  of  the  palace  become  in  the  course  of  successive 
reconstructions  and  demolitions.  In  the  court,  when 
the  day  finally  came  for  clearing  away  the  rubbish 
and  debris,  it  was  found  to  have  accumulated  to  a 
depth  of  six  feet.  On  this  foundation  some  enterpris- 
ing "  squatters  "  had  built  themselves  hovels,  while 
the  architect-in-chief,  Avliose  duty  it  was  to  protect 
the  buildings,  far  from  preventing  them,  did  the  same 
thing  himself,  only  on  a  more  elaborate  scale.  He 
erected,  that  is,  a  house,  almost  a  hotel,  in  the  centre 
of  the  courtyard,  on  the  very  spot  where  a  statue  of 
the  King  was  to  have  stood. 

This  impudent  performance,  which  seemed  to  taunt 
the  palace  with  its  fallen  state,  and  to  assert  that  not 
only  would  it  never  be  finished,  but  it  would  never 
even  be  cleared  and  restored,  put  the  final  touch  to 
the  public  indignation  already  aroused  by  the  dis- 
graceful state  of  the  rest  of  the  building.  Voltaire 
now  raised  his  voice. 


412  PARIS. 

Mais,  O  nouvel  affront !  quelle  coupable  audace 
Vient  encore  avilir  ce  chef-d'oeuvre  divin  ! 
Quel  sujet  entreprend  d'occuper  une  place 
Faite  pour  admirer  les  traits  du  Souverain? 

runs  one  of  the  "  Strophes  on  the  Louvre,"  which 
appeared  during  the  early  part  of  1749.  For  six 
years  the  tide  of  expostulation,  ridicule  and  suppli- 
cation rose  ever  higher  and  higher — all  manner  of 
absurd  suggestions  for  the  preservation  of  the  build- 
ing were  made.  The  Prevot  des  Marchands  even 
offered  in  the  name  of  the  city  to  finish  the  Louvre 
if  the  King  would  agree  to  have  the  Hotel  de  Ville 
occupy  the  south  Aving ! 

Thus  far  nothing  had  had  the  smallest  effect,  and 
the  abuses  only  seemed  to  grow  worse,  when  in  1754 
M.  de  Vandiere,  the  newly-created  Marquis  de  Ma- 
rigny  and  a  brother  of  Mme.  de  Pompadour,  was 
appointed  Superintendent  of  Buildings.  He  and  his 
sister  at  once  made  the  most  vigorous  representations 
to  the  King,  and  by  the  following  February  the  work 
of  restoration  began. 

Under  the  direction  of  Gabriel  the  east  wing  was 
first  attacked.  Perrault's  colonnade  was  repaired,  but 
the  facade  overlooking  the  courtyard  had  to  be  en- 
tirely rebuilt ;  it  had  not  been  roofed  in,  and  expo- 
sure to  the  storms  of  eighty  years  had  finished  by 
utterly  ruining  it. 

Gabriel,  constantly  hampered  by  want  of  money, 
was  more  successful  in  demolishing  than  in  anything 


LOUIS  XV.  413 

else.  He  tore  down  buildings,  dug  up  the  accumu- 
lated rubbish  of  a  century,  cleared  out,  carted  off. 
The  Louvre  was  seen  gradually  emerging  from  its 
sordid  surroundings ;  the  great  colonnade,  which  had 
been  standing  there  hidden,  guessed  at,  for  nearly  a 
hundred  years,  was  really  seen  for  the  first  time. 
The  last  traces  of  the  Petit  Bourbon  (one  wing  with 
the  encorbelled  "  tourelle  "  half-razed  at  the  time  of 
the  Constable's  treason)  disappeared  with  the  Hotel 
de  Longueville.  For  the  "  Postes  "  the  King  bought 
the  Hotel  d'Armenonville  in  what  is  now  the  Rue  J. 
J.  Rousseau,  Avhich  it  occupied  until  the  present 
building  was  put  up  in  1880-84,  partly  on  the  same 
site.  On  either  side  of  the  east  entrance  he  replaced 
the  old  buildings  with  large  squares  of  turf,  and  also 
sodded  the  courtyard,  at  last  restored  to  its  proper 
level.  This  was  about  all  that  Gabriel  was  able  to  do. 
The  money  was  even  wanting  for  him  to  roof  in  the 
east  wing  Mdien  it  was  done,  and  the  facade  over- 
looking the  Seine  had  to  be  left  without  either  roof  or 
windows. 

As  has  been  mentioned  above,  Louis  XV.  lived 
during  his  minority  in  the  Tuileries.  The  "  grand 
roi"  had  barely  expired  at  Versailles  before  work- 
men were  sent  to  prepare  it  for  the  young  King. 
After  some  months  of  delay,  for  the  palace  was  very 
much  out  of  order,  he  arrived.  Beyond  these  neces- 
sary repairs,  however,  the  six  and  a  half  years  passed 
there  by  Louis  XV.  do  not  seem   to  have  left  any 


414  PARIS. 

traces  on  the  building.  Several  events  of  histoi'ical 
interest  may  be  notedj  as,  for  instance,  the  visit  in 
May,  1717,  of  Peter  the  Great.  "  He  seemed  unable 
to  stop  caressing  the  King,"  writes  Dangeau,  and 
then  tells  of  the  interest  he  took  in  the  Grande 
Galerie,  which  he  visited  at  six  o'clock  in  the  morn- 
ing, and  in  the  mechanical  bridge  over  the  raoat, 
which  was  crossed  to  reach  the  Champs  Ely  sees. 
This  invention  of  an  Augustine  monk  named  Bour- 
geois was  on  the  same  principle  as  the  gates  of  our 
modern  locks. 

The  reception  given  at  the  Tuileries  to  the  em- 
bassy sent  by  Achmet  II.  in  1721  is  described  at 
length  in  the  Nouveau  Mercure,  where  also  may  be 
found  detailed  accounts  of  the  performances  given  in 
the  newly-restored  Salle  des  Machines.  Among  these 
the  course  of  semi-sacred  concerts  given  every  Fri- 
day in  Lent,  and  called  sjyiritiiels,  were  the  precur- 
sors of  the  Conservatory  Concerts  of  to-day.  It  was 
the  success  of  these  performances  that  suggested  the 
idea  of  offering  the  Salle  des  Machines  to  the  opera 
company  left  homeless  by  the  fire  of  1763.  Soufflot 
had  been  given  charge  of  its  restoration,  but  was 
unable  to  overcome  certain  acoustic  defects.  "  Mon 
Dieu  que  cette  salle  est  sourde!"  one  spectator  is  made 
to  say  in  a  skit  of  the  day,  to  which  another,  equally 
chagrined  by  the  poverty  of  the  chorus,  replies : 
"  EUe  est  bien  heureuse." 

For  twelve  years  the  Comediens  Fran^ais  played 


LOUIS  XV.  415 

in  the  Scalle  des  Machines  to  crowded  houses.  The 
pLiys  were  few  of  them  new,  and  most  of  them  poor, 
but  the  acting  made  up  for  all  defects.  Anything  by 
Voltaire  was  always  received  with  enthusiasm,  and 
when  he  returned  to  Paris  in  1778,  after  an  absence 
of  thirty  years,  the  company  determined  to  get  up  a 
grand  manifestation  in  his  honor. 

The  evening  of  March  30th  was  chosen,  and  the 
scene  is  described  as  being  unique  in  the  annals  of 
the  Comedie  Frangaise.  Greeted  with  frantic  ap- 
plause on  his  arrival,  crowned  first  by  the  actor  Bri- 
zard,  then  by  the  Prince  of  Beauvau,  and  a  third 
time  in  effigy  on  the  stage,  to  the  accompaniment  of 
trumpets  and  drums,  the  aged  poet  seemed  to  have 
reached  the  very  summit  of  fame  and  popularity. 
After  the  performance  of  Irene,  Vestris,  surrounded 
by  the  entire  personnel  of  the  Comedie  Frangaise 
holding  palms  in  their  hands,  recited  a  dithyramb  in 
his  honor.  Ncmine  was  theii  given,  and  Voltaire,  in- 
describably moved  and  stirred,  was  followed  all  the 
way  back  to  the  Quai  des  Theatins  by  an  idolatrous 
crowd.  Two  months  later,  while  still  under  the  in- 
fluence of  this  wonderful  evening,  he  died  at  the 
house  of  the  Marquis  de  Villette. 

In  1783  the  company  was  installed  in  its  new 
theatre,  and  seven  years  later  the  Salle  des  Machines, 
vacant  during  this  period,  was  reopened  under  the 
name  of  "  Theatre  de  Monsieur."  It  was  here  that 
the  Comte  de  Provence,  with  the  aid  of  a  troupe  of 


416  PARIS. 

Italicans,  introduced  the  new  style  of  performance 
called  ^'  des  BoufFes,"  which  soon  became  so  popular 
with  the  Parisians. 

But  while  the  upper  classes  were  amusing  them- 
selves with  Italian  music  and  balloon  ascensions  (it 
was  in  1783  that  the  celebrated  ascent  of  the  aero- 
nauts, Charles  and  Robert,  was  made  from  the  Tuil- 
eries  garden),  the  flood  of  the  Revolution  was  rising 
higher  and  higher.  Every  day  these  same  gardens 
were  thronged  by  a  restless,  feverish  crowd  that 
overflowed  into  the  Palais  Royal,  and  gathered  in 
excited  mobs  to  listen  to  the  harangues  of  the  open- 
air  orators.  Only  a  few  years  more  and  the  Salle  des 
Machines  will  witness  scenes  very  different  from  the 
apotheosis  of  Voltaire ;  and  Camille  Desmoulins  will 
be  heard  at  the  Palais  Royal. 

The  Palais  Royal  faithfully  echoed,  in  fact,  every 
storm  of  popular  excitement  that  swept  over  Paris. 
It  was  here  that  the  crowd  surged  and  howled  for 
Law,  dead  or  alive,  when  the  inevitable  financial 
crash  came,  caused  by  the  collapse  of  his  scheme. 
In  the  rush  on  the  bank  in  the  Place  Vendome, 
which  began  at  six  o'clock  in  the  morning,  three 
persons  were  crushed  to  death.  The  mob  brought 
the  bodies  to  the  very  doors  of  the  Palais  Royal,  and 
refused  to  believe  the  assertion  that  Law  was  not 
there.  The  people  were  finally  dispersed,  and  dur- 
ing the  night  the  speculator  managed  to  slip  in  with- 
out being  seen.     He  remained  under  the  protection 


LOUIS  XV.  417 

of  the  Regent  for  six  months  or  more,  occupying  the 
suite  of  the  Marquis  d'Etampes.  During  this  time 
an  extra  guard  was  stationed  on  the  opposite  side  of 
the  Place,  at  the  corner  of  the  newly-erected  Chateau 
d'Eau,  a  building  put  up  by  the  architect  Cotte  for 
the  King,  or  rather  by  order  of  the  Regent,  but  on 
property  belonging  to  the  Crown — a  part,  in  fact,  of 
the  "  grand  dessein  du  Louvre  "  which,  as  we  have 
already  seen,  the  Regent  failed  to  respect. 

This  new  building,  a  much  more  agreeable  object 
to  look  out  on  from  the  Palais  Royal  than  the  forlorn 
old  houses  it  replaced,  was  a  not  unpleasing  specimen 
of  the  architecture  of  the  Regency — the  only  one,  in- 
deed, in  Paris  in  the  way  of  a  public  building.  It 
was  in  two  stories.  Its  fagade,  vermiculated  in  imi- 
tation of  rustic  Avood,  was  flanked  by  two  pavilions. 
On  either  side  of  the  projection  in  the  centre  were 
coupled  Tuscan  columns  supporting  the  pediment  on 
which  rested  two  reclining  figures  by  Guillaume  Cous- 
tou,  one  representing  the  Seine  and  the  other  the 
Nymph  of  the  Arcueil  springs,  both  of  whose  waters 
flowed  into  the  reservoir  which  this  facade  screened. 
From  the  ''  Chateau  d'Eau  "  the  Palais  Royal  and  the 
Tuileries  were  supplied  with  water ;  it  stood  until 
1848. 

Louis,  Duke  of  Orleans,  who  succeeded  to  the  title 
on  the  death  of  his  father  in  1723,  did  little  for  the 
Palais  Royal.  Almost  a  fanatic  in  matters  of  religion, 
he  was  beyond  measure  scandalized  by  the  promis- 

27 


418  PARIS. 

cuous  mingling  of  sacred  and  profane  subjects  in  his 
father's  picture  gallery.  The  remedy  he  applied  was 
severe.  Selecting  forty  of  the  most  indecent  (they 
were  almost  all  from  the  collection  of  Queen  Chris- 
tina), he  made  a  bonfire  of  them.  Three  only  were 
saved  :  a  Vemis  by  Albani,  Correggio's  Lcda,  and  the 
lo,  also  by  Correggio,  which  had  already  been  cut 
in  strips  when  Collin  managed  to  get  possession 
of  it,  and  had  it  pieced  together.  In  1727  the 
Duke  sold  the  Flemish  pictures.  He  now  came  to 
the  Palais  Royal  as  little  as  possible.  His  wife,  a 
daughter  of  the  Margrave  of  Baden,  to  whom  he  was 
devotedly  attached,  had  died  the  year  before,  and  he 
spent  most  of  his  time  in  retreat  at  the  Canonry  of 
Ste.  Genevieve,  now  the  Lycee  Henri  IV.  He  left 
his  library  and  collection  of  medals  to  this  establish- 
ment, and  died  there  in  1752. 

Three  years  before  his  death,  his  conscience  re- 
proaching him  with  having  a  theatre  in  his  house, 
and  singers  and  dancers  for  tenants,  he  had  ceded 
the  proprietorship  of  the  opera  to  the  city  of  Paris. 

It  was,  hoAvever,  in  1748,  when  the  opera  was  still 
a  dependency  of  the  Palais  Royal,  that  Charles  Ed- 
ward, son  of  the  Pretender,  was  seized  there  by  the 
King's  order.  Possibly  this  flagrant  breach  of  hos- 
pitality would  not  have  taken  place  had  the  Duke 
been  living  in  his  palace  at  the  time,  the  King  hav- 
ing merely  yielded  to  pressure  from  England.  All 
the   approaches   had  been  shut  off  and  guards  sta- 


LOUIS  XV.  419 

tioned  not  only  throughout  the  building,  but  at  vari- 
ous points  all  the  way  to  the  Porte  St.  Antoine. 

The  Prince  was  overpowered  from  behind,  bound, 
and  taken  to  a  house  on  the  Rue  Bons  Enfants,  where 
he  was  disarmed.  He  was  then  placed  in  a  carriage 
drawn  by  six  horses  and  whirled  off  to  Vincennes. 

The  Palais  Royal  garden,  newly  laid  out  and  thickly 
planted  with  trees  in  1730,  was  the  favorite  resort  of 
opera  singers,  small  shopkeepers,  poor  writers,  and 
hosts  of  others.  Every  avenue,  walk,  and  corner 
had  its  name.  The  Allee  d'Argenson,  for  instance, 
on  the  right,  or  east  side,  so-called  from  the  hotel  in 
the  Rue  des  Bons  Enfants,  later  the  •''  Chancelerie  du 
Due  d'Orleans."  This  hotel  replaced  the  Hotel  Melu- 
zine,  where  the  first  meetings  of  the  Academic  Fran- 
9aise  were  held,  where  Abbe  Dubois  lived  for  a  time, 
and  where  M.  de  Navailles,  tutor  to  the  Regent,  died 
in  1684. 

On  the  opposite  side,  the  avenue  bordering  on  the 
Rue  de  Richelieu  was  called  "I'allee  du  cafe  de 
Foix,"  from  the  celebrated  restaurant  belonging  to  a 
man  named  Foy  or  Foix.  It  stood  opposite  the  open- 
ing of  the  Rue  Villedo,  and  close  to  Moliere's  house. 
A  flight  of  steps  led  down  into  the  garden,  and  Foy 
(succeeded  by  Tousserand)  had  permission  to  "carry, 
to  circulate,  and  to  stand  on  the  chairs  "  his  trays  in 
this  alley,  which,  by  the  way,  was  the  only  one  in 
the  garden  where  the  ancient  elms  planted  by  Riche- 
lieu had  been  left  standing. 


420  PARIS. 

With  the  death  of  the  religious  Louis,  Duke  of 
Orleans,  and  the  installation  of  M.  de  Silhouette  as 
Chancellor  in  the  place  of  the  Marquis  d'Argcnson, 
extensive  plans  were  made  for  improving  the  Palais 
Royal. 

In  his  memoirs  M.  Argenson,  who  had  never  been 
empowered  to  do  anything  of  the  kind,  writes  with 
evident  jealousy,  under  date  of  April  1,  1752,  "Two 
months  after  the  old  Duke's  death  we  have  M.  le  Due 
projecting  building  operations  at  the  Palais  Royal 
and  Villers  Cotterets  to  cost  as  high  as  eight  mil- 
lions, ...  So  they  are  going  to  hurry  to  put  up 
buildings  and  to  go  into  debt.  As  a  man  builds  so 
he  governs,  says  Voltaire." 

The  old  architect  Cartaud  had  charge  of  the  work  ; 
when  he  died  in  1758  the  new  buildings  on  the  right 
of  the  first  and  second  courts  were  finished,  and  the 
apartments  of  the  charming  Duchess  Henrietta  de 
Bourbon-Conti  well  advanced.  He  was  succeeded 
by  Contant  d'lvry,  but  before  long  the  Duchess  too 
died,  gay  and  unselfish  to  the  last. 

It  is  told  of  her  that  Avhen  the  end  was  approach- 
ing she  was  troubled  by  a  strange  noise  close  to  her 
room,  and  sent  to  inquire  about  it.  On  being  told 
that  it  was  a  turnspit,  a  poor  abbe  whom  she  had  be- 
friended and  given  an  asylum  in  the  Palais  being 
about  to  sit  down  to  dinner,  she  said  with  a  smile : 
"  I  can  die  quite  comfortably,  then,  since  the  abbe  will 
not  lose  so  much  as  a  smgle  mouthful  by  the  event." 


LOUIS  XV.  421 

There  were  a  great  many  of  these  pensioners  in 
the  Palais  Royal,  each  one  inhabiting  a  separate  little 
suite  of  his  own.  Fontenelle  after  living  there  for 
twenty-five  years  was  turned  out  by  the  Regent's 
son,  and  left  it  most  regretfully.  The  destruction  of 
the  opera  house  and  a  part  of  the  palace  by  fire  in 
1763  was  the  result  of  an  overheated  stove  in  the 
rooms  of  the  Governor's  wife.  The  fire  broke  out 
at  an  hour  when  the  opera  house  was  deserted ;  even 
the  porters  were  not  there  5  but  a  young  singer,  who 
was  to  make  her  debut  that  evening,  having  gone  on 
the  stage  to  test  her  voice  in  the  empty  house,  dis- 
covered it  in  time  and  gave  the  alarm.  The  rebuild- 
ing of  the  opera  house,  as  well  as  the  other  works  at  the 
Palais  Royal,  dragged  on  for  many  years.  The  Opera 
was  finished  in  1770.  Moreau,  the  architect  employed 
after  the  fire,  was  in  constant  collision  with  Contant 
d'lvry,  and  many  of  the  strange  inequalities  in  the 
buUding  as  we  see  it  to-day,  the  variations  in  line  and 
level,  are  due  to  their  disagreements.  Moreau  was 
given  the  exterior  of  the  first  court  to  do,  in  order  that 
it  might  agree  with  the  fagade  of  his  opera  house,  which 
he  was  under  strict  orders  to  construct  so  as  to  look 
like  an  integral  part  of  the  palace,  and  not  at  all  like 
a  theatre.  Pajou  carved  the  genii  on  the  pediment 
in  the  centre  ;  the  arms  of  the  Orleans  family  which 
they  supported  have  been  replaced  with  a  dial. 

jNIuch  of  Moreau's  work  still  remains.  The  Orleans 
arms  have  been  obliterated  here  and  there,  but  Pajou's 


422  PAKIS. 

figures  of  Prudence  and  Liberty  still  adorn  the  pavil- 
ion of  the  right  wing,  and  those  of  Force  and  Justice 
the  pediment  on  the  Rue  Richelieu.  Tlie  terrace  in 
front  of  the  outer  court,  with  its  eight  coupled  Doric 
columns  and  the  arcades  that  flank  it,  are  due  to 
Moreau ;  but  the  grand  stairway  came  within  Con- 
tant's  jurisdiction,  and  is  his  work.  The  magnificent 
balustrade  of  polished  iron  and  bronze,  the  work  of 
Corbin  and  Caffieri,  was  so  costly  to  keep  in  order 
that  a  later  and  more  economical  age  covered  it  with 
a  neat  coating  of  paint.  It  has  now,  however,  been 
restored  to  its  original  state. 

Pajou  also  carved  the  figures  for  Contant's  facade 
of  the  second  court.  The  side  wings  were  not  al- 
tered, and  the  "  Galerie  des  Prous  "  still  remains  as 
the  sole  memory  of  Richelieu's  palace. 

Meantime  the  Duke  of  Orleans  had  withdrawn 
almost  completely  from  the  Palais  Royal.  His  secret 
marriage  on  the  night  of  the  24:th  of  April,  1773,  to 
the  Marquise  de  Montesson  had  caused  a  breach 
between  him  and  his  son,  the  Due  de  Chartres. 
The  latter,  who  had  married  Mile,  de  Penthievre 
several  years  before,  occupied  the  left  wing,  while 
the  Duke  lived  in  the  right.  It  was  not  long  after 
his  marriage,  however,  before  the  Marquise,  who 
had  him  completely  under  her  influence,  induced 
him  to  move  into  a  small  hotel  in  the  new  quarter 
of  the  Chaussee  d'Antin.  Here,  becoming  recon- 
ciled to  his  son  during  a  serious  iUness,  he  agreed 


LOUIS  XV.  423 

to   put  him   into  immediate  possession  of  the   Palais 
Kojal . 

The  ne-,v  proprietor  began  at  once  to  try  to  put  a 
stop  to  the  free  use  made  of  the  garden  by  persons 
occupying  the  adjoining  houses.  They  were  either 
to  cease  giving  little  parties  and  fetes  there,  or  they 
were  to  pay  a  round  sum  for  the  privilege.  The 
affair  caused  great  excitement  throughout  Paris.  The 
property  owners  appealed  to  the  Duchess,  as  beloved 
by  the  people  as  her  father,  the  Due  de  Penthievre, 
and,  Avhen  her  efforts  to  help  them  failed,  to  the  arch- 
bishop, whose  ancient  rights  in  the  matter  of  rents 
and  sales  over  all  this  part  of  Paris  gave  him  a  pre- 
text for  interfering.  He  called  upon  the  Duke  with 
great  ceremon}^,  but  no  better  success.  Then  the 
proprietors,  many  of  them  persons  of  influence,  took 
the  matter  in  hand  for  themselves.  One  of  these  was 
the  Marquis  de  Voyer,  a  member  of  the  Argenson 
family,  to  whom,  as  long  as  there  should  be  a  male 
representative,  the  use  of  the  Hotel  de  la  Chancel- 
lerie  had  been  ceded  in  1752.  De  Voyer  was  angry 
at  being  received  by  the  Duke  in  his  slippers  and 
dressing-gown,  and  adopted  a  high  tone  in  making 
his  demands.  '^  I  am  in  need  of  money,"  was  the 
only  answer  the  Prince  would  make.  "  Very  well," 
said  the  Marquis,  "  we  have  plenty,  but  it  is  to  de- 
fend our  rights  with,  not  to  give  to  you."  The  matter 
was  taken  to  the  courts,  but  long  before  the  lawsuit 
that  followed  was  settled  the  Due  de  Chartres  had 


424  PARIS. 

entirely  changed  his  pLans,  and  decided  to  put  up  at 
his  own  cost  the  galleries  which,  with  slight  altera- 
tions, we  sea  to-day  surrounding  the  Palais  Royal 
garden. 

The  three  streets  of  Montpensier,  Beaujolais 
and  Valois,  which  were  opened  at  this  time,  were 
named  after  the  Duke's  three  young  sons,  the 
last,  Valois,  being  the  future  Louis-PhiHppe.  These 
streets  Avere  taken  off  the  garden  itself,  and  its  size 
was  further  diminished  by  the  line  of  buildings  inside 
them.  On  the  fourth  side,  the  south  that  is,  towards 
the  palace,  was  the  arcade  called  VExpose,  and  the 
little  Jardin  des  Princes  was  converted  into  a  court 
opening  on  the  Rue  Richelieu  by  three  large  door- 
ways. The  Duke  de  Chartres  persisted  in  carrying 
out  these  plans  in  the  face  of  the  most  violent  oppo- 
sition. He  said  that  his  object  was  to  erect  a  mag- 
nificent building  Avhich  should  be  suitable  in  every 
way  as  a  meeting-place  for  natives  and  foreigners  of 
all  trades  and  conditions,  and  that,  far  from  being  a 
disadvantage  to  the  neighboring  proprietors,  it  would 
very  sensibly  increase  the  value  of  their  property. 
All  this  was  true  enough.  The  work,  begun  in  1781 
and  pushed  forward  Avith  the  greatest  haste,  was  far 
enough  advanced  three  years  later  for  a  number  of 
temporary  booths,  put  up  between  the  pillars  of  the 
east  gallery,  to  be  rented  out.  The  Duke  was  in- 
deed by  this  time  hard  pressed  for  money  ;  before  the 
whole  thing  was  finished  he  was  bankrupt. 


LOUIS  XV.  425 

Meanwhile  the  opera  house  had  agam  been  burned. 
This  time  the  fire  broke  out  during  a  performance, 
and  probably  many  of  the  audience  would  have  per- 
ished had  it  not  been  for  the  presence  of  mind  of 
Dauberval,  who  was  on  the  stage  and  nearing  the 
end  of  the  ballet  of  Coronis.  Happening  to  look  up  he 
saw  a  frieze  on  fire,  took  a  few  rapid  steps,  and  gave 
the  signal  for  the  curtain  to  be  lowered.  The  audi- 
ence Avas  surprised,  but  left  without  demanding  the 
usual  finale,  and  in  a  few  minutes  the  whole  place 
was  in  flames.  Guimard,  who  occupied  a  lodging 
off  the  Cour  des  Fontaines,  was  nearly  burned  to 
death,  and  the  bodies  of  twenty-one  persons  less  for- 
tunate than  she  were  found  in  the  ruins.  JMost  of 
the  dead  were  members  of  the  corps  du  ballet  and 
opera,  but  among  them  Avere  three  poor  Capucins 
who,  in  obedience  to  a  rule  of  their  order,  had  been 
working  with  the  rescuers.  The  tire  took  place  in 
June,  1781,  and  this  time  the  Duke  found  it  impos- 
sible to  force  the  city  to  have  the  opera  house  rebuilt 
on  the  same  site.  He  was  so  loath  to  let  it  go  that 
the  case  was  laid  before  the  Parliament,  but  it  was 
decided  against  him,  and  the  opera  took  possession 
in  August  of  a  hall  improvised  for  them  in  the  Boule- 
vard St.  Martin  by  Lenoir ;  it  became  the  theatre  St. 
Martin,  and  stood  until  1871.  For  nearly  nine  years 
the  Duke  never  ceased  his  eff*orts  to  make  up  in  some 
worthy  manner  for  the  loss  of  the  opera.  One  style 
of  performance    after   another    was    attempted    and 


426  PARIS. 

failed,  but  at  last  the  germ  of  the  present  Theatre 
Frangais  was  successfully  started.  In  order  to  get 
space  for  the  handsome  theatre  opened  in  May,  1790, 
the  oldest  parts  of  the  palace  of  Richelieu  were  torn 
down — that  is,  the  Galleries  of  Coypel  and  Oppen- 
ord  and  the  Regent's  suite  of  apartments,  which 
Madame  de  Genlis  had  occupied  for  a  brief  space, 
and  which  she  said  she  had  tried  to  purify  by  her 
acts  of  devotion.  The  magnificent  collection  of  paint- 
ings was  sold  and  scattered  over  Europe,  many  of 
them  finding  their  way  to  England,  and  but  few  ever 
returning  to  France.  The  theatre^  after  being  called 
by  a  half  dozen  names,  Avas  finally  known  as  "la 
Comedie  Fran(;-aise." 

To  give  an  idea  of  what  the  quarter  lying  to  the 
east  of  the  Palais  Royal  was  like  at  this  period,  we 
can  hardly  do  better  than  quote  the  description  of 
Piganiol  de  la  Force,  written  in  1765. 

"  The  Halles  of  Paris,"  he  says,  "  are  undoubtedly 
the  richest  markets  in  the  world.  There  one  can  find 
every  article,  either  of  necessity  or  luxury,  that  is 
produced  on  the  earth,  in  the  sea  or  the  air ;  but  it  is 
also  the  dirtiest  and  most  unsightly  quarter  of  Paris, 
like  an  enlarged  reproduction  of  the  Jewish  quarters 
in  towns  where  Jews  are  allowed." 

Plans  for  enlarging  and  improving  the  buildings 
had  been  on  foot  for  some  time.  Between  1763-1772 
the  Halle  aux  Bles  was  built  on  the  site  of  the  old 
Hotel  de  Soissons,  bought  from  the  creditors  of  Vic- 


LOUIS  XV.  427 

tor  Amedens  of  Savoy  for  the  purpose,  and  the  grave- 
yard of  the  Holy  Innocents  was  added  by  Louis  XVI. ; 
but  during  the  Revohition  there  was  little  interest 
taken  in  the  improvement  of  market-houses,  and 
they  were  left  in  the  same  dirty  and  unsanitary  con- 
dition as  when  Piganiol  de  la  Force  wrote. 

The  old  hotel  that  gave  its  name  to  the  Rue 
Roi  de  Sicile  had  passed  into  the  hands  of  the  Duke 
de  la  Force,  from  whom  it  was  bought  by  two  brothers 
named  Paris,  who  had  made  enormous  fortunes  as 
provision  merchants,  and  Jean  Poultier,  Intendant  of 
Finances.  Two  handsome  hotels  were  built  on  the 
site,  the  one  designed  by  Gabriel  and  the  other  by 
Bullet,  both  continuing  to  be  called  by  the  name  of 
the  last  proprietor,  la  Force.  The  purchase  of  these 
hotels  in  1754  by  the  Crown,  and  their  conversion 
later,  with  all  their  magnificent  decorations,  into  a 
model  prison  was  loudly  applauded  by  the  eighteenth 
century  philosophers  as  an  encouraging  sign  of  the 
enlightened  policy  of  the  age. 

Louis  XVI.  did  indeed,  by  the  advice  of  his  Min- 
ister Necker,  undertake  a  thorough  reform  in  the 
prison  system  of  Paris.  By  an  order  issued  in  1780, 
the  horrible  prisons  of  the  Chatelet  and  For  I'Eveque 
were  suppressed  and  the  prisoners  removed  to  the 
Hotel  de  la  Force  (called  from  thenceforth  la  Force), 
where  they  were  all,  even  the  most  culpable,  to  be 
allowed  air,  space,  and  proper  food.  It  was  also  pro- 
vided that  they  were  to  be  classified,  and  that  per- 


428  PAEIS. 

sons  under  temporary  arrest  were  not  to  be  herded 
in  with  common  criminals,  as  had  hitherto  been  the 
custom  in  the  Conciergerie  of  the  Palais  de  la  Cite. 

The  main  entrance  to  la  Force  was  on  the  Rue  Roi 
de  Sicile.  It  had  eight  courtyards,  four  of  them  very- 
large,  and  most  of  them  planted  with  trees  and  pro- 
vided with  fountains  fed  from  the  Seine.  The  prison 
was  divided  into  six  departments.  The  first  was  for 
the  head  turnkeys  and  other  employes ;  the  second 
was  devoted  solely  to  "  heads  of  families,"  fathers, 
that  is,  detained  there  until  they  shoidd  have  paid 
the  wages  of  their  children's  wet-nurses ;  the  third 
was  for  debtors,  and  so  on  5  but  the  classes  were  kept 
apart  and  the  women  separate  from  the  men,  and 
there  was  a  well-ordered  infirmary  and  a  chapel, 
where  all  the  prisoners  attended  the  services  Avithout 
mingling  together.  The  allowance  of  food  was  good 
and  sufficient,  and  each  prisoner  was  given  a  change 
of  linen  once  a  week. 

The  Hotel  de  BriennC;  which  stood  near  by,  was 
next  bought  and  turned  into  a  prison  for  women  only. 
Modelled  on  the  same  plan,  it  was  called  La  Petite 
Force.  Until  August  10,  1792,  the  prisons  of  La 
Force  continued  to  be  administered  according  to  this 
system. 

Following  the  Rue  Roi  de  Sicile  a  little  way  to  the 
west,  and  then  turning  north  on  the  Rue  Vieille  du 
Temple,  we  come  to  the  great  hotel  of  the  Rohan 
family,  whose  history  we  have  traced  in  a  preceding 


LOUIS  XV.  429 

chapter  up  to  the  early  part  of  the  eighteenth  cen- 
tury. When  Madame  de  Soubise,  one  of  Louis  XIV. 's 
favorites,  died  in  1709,  and  was  followed  three  years 
later  by  her  husband,  their  second  son,  Hercule 
Meriadec,  inherited  the  magnificent  dwelling  which 
his  parents  had  spent  their  fortunes  and  their  ener- 
gies in  building  and  furnishing.  The  King  allowed 
him  to  bear  the  titles  of  Due  de  Rohan-Rohan  and 
Prince  of  Rohan,  while  his  brother,  Armand  Gaston, 
was  made  Archbishop  of  Strasbourg  and  Cardinal  de 
Rohan.  These  two  brothers  both  died  in  1749,  having 
devoted  themselves  for  more  than  thirty  years  to  the 
finishing  and  embellishing  of  their  respective  hotels, 
that  of  Soubise  belonging  to  the  Prince,  and  the  adjoin- 
ing one  of  Strasbourg  to  the  Cardinal,  who  had  built 
it  himself.  From  the  time  that  Cardinal  de  Rohan 
added  the  library  of  President  de  Menars  (into  which 
de  Thou's  library  had  been  incorporated  fifty  years 
before)  to  his  own  not  inconsiderable  collection,  the 
library  of  the  Hotel  Strasbourg  was  looked  upon  as 
one  of  the  most  valuable  in  Paris. 

The  Prince's  grandson  and  the  Cardinal's  great- 
nephew  succeeded  to  their  properties  and  their  titles  ; 
but  the  old  order  of  things  was  passing  away^  and  the 
last  of  the  house  of  Rohan  to  possess  the  Hotel  Sou- 
bise was  the  Marshal  Charles  de  Rohan,  the  favorite 
of  Louis  XV.  and  Mme.  du  Barry,  a  gallant  enough 
soldier,  but  a  poor  General,  and  responsible  for  his 
share  of  the  French  reverses  in  Germany  5  while  the 


430  PAEIS. 

last  Cardinal  de  Rohan  was  he  who  is  so  inseparably 
connected  with  the  scandal  of  the  diamond  necklace 
in  Louis  XVI.'s  reign. 

By  Louis  XIV.'s  time  the  Arsenal  had  come  to  be 
nothing  more  than  a  storehouse  for  old  arms,  a  salt- 
petre depot;  and  a  foundry  of  bronze  statues.  Up- 
wards of  two  thousand  persons  lived  within  the  en- 
closure, subject  to  a  sort  of  military  discipline  ;  among 
these  were  numbered  the  Salpetriers,  a  body  of  men 
whose  business  it  Avas  to  collect  from  all  the  old  build- 
ings in  Paris  such  plaster  as  could  be  used  in  the 
manufacture  of  saltpetre. 

The  office  of  Grand  Master  had  become  entirely  a 
sinecure,  the  incumbent  livingin  great  state  in  the  hotel 
near  the  Arsenal,  at  the  expense  of  the  government, 
and  doing  nothing  at  all.  It  was  suppressed  in  1755, 
or  rather  merged  into  that  of  the  Minister  of  War. 

Close  to  the  Bastille,  the  Arsenal  was  a  convenient 
seat  of  justice  for  the  trial  of  prisoners  (rapidly  on 
the  increase  in  the  seventeenth  and  eighteenth  cen- 
turies) accused  of  sorcery  and  poisoning. 

The  famous  trial  of  Mme.  de  Brinvilliers,  which 
we  spoke  of  in  the  last  chapter,  had  brought  to  light 
a  terrible  state  of  affairs.  Members  of  respectable 
and  even  prominent  families  resorted  to  love-philters, 
magic,  and  what  Avere  called  poudrcs  de  succession, 
nothing  less  than  sIoav  poisons,  by  Avhose  aid  incon- 
venient persons  Avere  gotten  rid  of  Avithout  the  cause 
being  suspected. 


LOUIS  XV.  431 

In  1718  the  Regent  employed  Boffrand  to  rebuild 
the  hotel  of  the  Grand  Master,  the  Duke  of  Maine, 
who  held  the  office,  and  his  wife  being  then  impli- 
cated in  Cellamare's  plot  and  detained  away  from 
Paris. 

Boffrand  preserved  a  part  of  Sully's  building,  but 
hid  it  behind  the  great  south  fa§ade  he  put  up  facing 
the  river,  adding  a  terrace,  attic,  and  Italian  roof. 
The  cabinet  of  Henry  IV.,  the  miniature  theatre 
called  "  la  Terrasse,"  whose  decorations  dated  from 
the  time  of  Louis  XIII.^  and  the  grand  state  stair- 
way were  left  intact.  Boffrand  undertook  the  in- 
terior decoration  of  the  building  as  well,  and  one  of 
the  salons  of  the  second  floor  is  considered  to  be  the 
very  best  example  of  his  work,  both  as  architect  and 
decorator. 

As  we  have  said,  the  office  of  Grand  Master  of 
Artillery  was  suppressed  in  1755  ;  but  the  Arsenal 
still  preserved  its  old  organization,  and  was  presided 
over  by  a  Lieutenant-General  or  Governor,  appointed 
under  the  Minister  of  War.  The  first  to  hold  this 
office — and  to  keep  it  for  some  thirty  years — was  the 
Marquis  de  Paulmy,  whose  peaceful  and  studious  oc- 
cupation of  the  Arsenal  we  have  alluded  to  in  a  pre- 
vious chapter.*  The  author  of  the  "Tableau  de 
Paris'^  draws  the  following  picture  of  the  Arsenal 
in  1784: 

"  All  that  the  metal  at  the  Paris  Arsenal  is  good 
*  See  page^29^ 


432  PAEIS. 

for  is  to  make  pots  of.  .  .  .  Instecad  of  munitions  of 
war,  one  sees,  from  across  the  great  squares,  a  curi- 
ous library  belonging  to  M.  de  Paulmy.  The  garden, 
which  has  a  charming  view,  is  used  as  a  promenade 
by  the  good  people  of  the  Marais.  They  all  have  a 
somewhat  old-fasliioned  air,  and  somewhat  bored  as 
well ;  there  is  a  difference  in  everything,  even  in  the 
way  of  walking,  between  this  quartier  and  the  rest 
of  the  Ville." 

There  is  nothing  at  the  Bastille  to  detain  us  at  this 
period ;  its  mysterious  life  goes  on  as  before ;  prison- 
ers arrested  by  "  lettres  de  cachet "  disappear  within 
those  walls  never  to  be  heard  of  again ;  the  very 
gaolers  are  unable,  after  a  few  years,  to  say  whether 
the  unknown  person  brought  there  by  night,  with  no 
distinguishing  mark  but  the  number  of  his  cell  (often 
changed),  is  still  alive  or  no ;  there  are  a  great  many 
of  them,  and  one  gets  confused.  Meanwhile  the 
people  grow  ever  more  and  more  to  hate  and  dread 
the  forbidding  pile. 

Nor  is  the  Cathedral  of  Notre  Dame,  across  the 
northern  arm  of  the  river,  especially  associated  with 
this  time. 

A  curious  incident  is  related  of  the  year  1728. 
Some  scaffoldings  erected  for  the  purpose  of  repair- 
ing the  roof  afforded  a  gang  of  daring  thieves  the 
means  of  concealing  themselves  among  the  rafters. 
At  the  first  versicle  of  the  second  psalm  of  the  ves- 
per service,  the  signal  agreed  upon,  they  dropped  a 


LOUIS  XV.  433 

number  of  beams,  planks  and  tools  from  the  top  of 
the  roof  down  into  the  midst  of  the  throng  below  ;  at 
the  same  instant  their  colleagues  stationed  near  the 
different  doors  set  up  a  shout  that  the  roof  was  fall- 
ing, and  in  the  terrible  panic  and  confusion  that  fol- 
lowed stole  quantities  of  snuff-boxes,  watches,  rings, 
and  other  jewels.  So  great  was  the  crush  that  upwards 
of  four  hundred  persons,  either  injured  or  knocked 
insensible,  had  to  be  provided  with  hastily-improvised 
litters  and  looked  after  in  the  Parvis  Notre  Dame. 
The  thieves  meanwhile  got  off  safely  with  their  booty 
that  time,  but  it  is  supposed  that  they  belonged  to  the 
celebrated  band  of  Cartouche,  all  of  whom  were  exe- 
cuted on  the  Place  de  Greve  some  years  later. 

An  edict  of  1670,  published  by  Louis  XIV.,  had 
provided  for  the  establishment  of  a  foundling  hos- 
pital adjoining  the  General  Hospital  opposite  Notre 
Dame,  but  the  work  was  not  begun  until  1746,  when 
the  corner-stone  was  laid  in  the  name  of  the  Queen, 
Marie  Leczynska.  Boffrand,  the  architect,  put  up 
the  three  wings  of  which  the  building  was  composed, 
and  Natoire  and  Brunetti  executed  the  decorations. 
An  arched  roof  painted  by  the  former  in  imitation  of 
a  ruin  about  to  tumble  on  the  heads  of  the  specta- 
tors was  greatly  admired  in  the  eighteenth  century. 
The  ancient  hospital  called  I'Hotel  Dieu  had  become 
so  overcrowded  by  the  middle  of  the  seventeenth 
century,  one  report  states,  that  "  they  are  obliged  to 
put  six  and  sometimes  eight  patients  in  one   bed." 

28 


434  PARIS. 

To  remedy  this  the  Regent  authorized  a  tax  on  all 
tickets  for  the  theatre,  opera,  and  other  public  enter- 
tainments. This  "  droit  des  pauvres  "  met  with  the 
most  violent  opposition,  but,  thanks  to  it,  the  new 
ward  of  St.  Antoine  was  finished  in  1717.  Twenty 
years  later  all  those  parts  of  the  building  situated  be- 
tween the  square  of  St.  Denis  and  the  Archbishop's 
palace  were  destroyed  by  fire,  while  on  the  30th 
of  December,  1772,  there  broke  out  that  terrible  fire 
that  lasted  eleven  days,  and  consumed  everything  be- 
tween the  square  of  St.  Denis  and  the  Petit-Pont. 
Many  of  the  patients  were  burned  in  their  beds,  while 
others,  flying  almost  naked,  were  given  shelter  by  the 
Archbishop  in  Notre  Dame.  He  was  one  of  the  first 
to  reach  the  spot,  and  had  the  great  doors  thrown 
wide  open,  so  that  the  unfortunates  could  be  received 
there.  The  numerous  schemes  proposed  for  the  res- 
toration and  removal  of  the  Hotel  Dieu  were  all  re- 
jected, and,  with  merely  a  change  of  name  (the  Con- 
vention rechristened  it  Maison  de  I'Humanite),  it 
existed  in  much  the  same  condition  for  the  next 
hundred  years.  In  1786  the  Pont  Notre  Dame,  at 
the  other  extremity  of  the  Rue  de  la  Lantern e,  was 
cleared  of  all  the  houses  which  formed  such  a  pic- 
turesque, if  undesirable,  feature  of  the  bridges  of  the 
day.  This  was  done  in  the  interests  of  the  city,  "to 
give  it  air  and  to  embellish  it."  The  Marquis  de 
Villette  was  so  enthusiastic  over  the  improvement 
that  he  proposed  to  erect  a  statue  of  Louis  XVI.  on 


LOUIS  XV.  435 

the  bridge,  but  never  did  it.  The  pump  was  left, 
though,  and  could  be  seen  there  as  late  as  in  1861. 

Some  ten  or  twelve  years  earlier  a  similar  clear- 
ance had  been  effected  on  the  Pont  Neuf,  and  great 
discontent  caused  thereby.  The  booths  and  stalls 
had  come  to  be  a  real  nuisance,  croAvding  the  foot- 
passengers  and  interfering  with  traffic.  The  young 
King  had  a  number  of  pavilions  built  on  the  half- 
moons  of  the  bridge,  into  which  the  florists,  fruit- 
sellers,  tavern-keepers,  vendors  of  ink,  of  dogs,  of 
umbrellas,  crowded,  and  where  the  exhibition  of  pic- 
tures that  had  failed  of  admission  to  the  Salon  was 
held  every  year  on  the  Fete  Dieu  by  the  members 
of  La  Petite  Academic  des  Peintres,  or  Academic  de 
St.  Luc.  This  society  had  always  been  highly  popular 
on  the  Pont  Neuf,  and  it  was  for  their  benefit  that 
the  pavilions  had  been  built.  Yet  notwithstanding 
this,  and  the  fact  that  the  rents  all  went  into  a  fund 
for  the  benefit  of  the  orphans  and  widows  of  the 
artists,  the  people  continued  to  grumble,  and  to  re- 
gret the  noisy,  crowded,  inconvenient  Pont  Neuf  of 
the  past. 

Li  1737  a  disastrous  fire  broke  out  in  the  Cour  des 
Comptes  of  the  Palais.  Although  its  cause  was  never 
known  certainly_,  it  probably  started  from  the  chim- 
ney of  the  adjoining  hotel  of  the  Premier  President. 
A  violent  wind  kept  it  alive  for  two  days,  and  in  spite 
of  all  efforts  made  to  save  it,  the  building  of  Louis 
XII.  was  completely  wrecked.     Gabriel,  first  King's 


436  PARIS. 

architect,  replaced  it  with  a  very  poor  substitute  for 
the  charming  and  unique  specimen  of  combined  Gothic 
and  Renaissance  architecture  which  had  been  de- 
stroyed. Three  registrars'  offices,  two  "  depots  des 
auditeurs,"  and  the  three  chambers,  du  Terrier,  du 
Conseil,  and  des  Procureurs,  were  burned  besides. 
The  new  Cour  des  Comptes  and  the  building  for  the 
offices  of  the  Procureurs  were  all  that  the  Crown  did 
for  the  Palais  during  the  reign  of  Louis  XV.  The 
Ville,  however,  accomplished  some  important  work 
close  by  on  the  Quai  de  I'Horloge,  already  nicknamed 
"  Quai  des  Lunettes,"  from  the  number  of  opticians' 
shops  gathered  there.  The  object,  which  was  to  widen 
the  quay,  coidd  more  easily  have  been  gained  by  clear- 
ing away  the  mass  of  small  shops  and  stalls  that  had 
accumulated  at  the  foot  of  the  palace  towers ;  but  as 
the  rent  from  these  went  to  the  Hotel  Dieu,  and 
formed  a  considerable  part  of  its  income,  they  pre- 
ferred, instead,  to  erect  a  sort  of  encorbelled  balcony 
along  the  narrowest  part,  from  the  descent  to  the 
Pont  au  Change,  that  is,  to  a  point  a  little  beyond  the 
towers.  The  work  was  very  well  done,  and  the 
Prevot,  M.  Turgot,  who  had  directed  it,  was  minded 
to  put  up  an  inscription.     So  Piron  w^-ote  him  one : 

Monsieur  Turgot  ^tant  en  charge 
Et  trouvant  ce  quai  trop  pen  large, 
Y  iit  ajouter  cette  marge. 
Passants,  qui  passez  tout  de  go, 
Eendez  grftce  a  Monsieur  Turgot. 


LOUIS  XV.  437 

In  the  absence  of  any  certain  proof,  the  fire  of 
1737  was,  as  usual,  said  to  have  been  the  work  of  an 
incendiary,  and  M.  Armand  Arouet,  an  elder  brother 
of  Voltaire,  and  an  ardent  Jansenist,  was  accused. 
He,  like  their  father,  held  an  office  in  the  Chambre 
des  Comptes,  and  continued  to  live  in  the  corner  of 
the  Palais,  where  both  brothers  were  born.  The 
fight  between  the  Jansenists  and  Jesuits  was  then 
at  its  height,  each  party  constantly  accusing  the 
other  of  all  manner  of  crimes.  From  the  appearance 
of  the  Bull  Unigcnltus,  in  1713,  the  struggle  con- 
tinued for  fifty  years,  the  Crown  and  the  Pope  siding 
with  the  Jesuits,  and  the  Parliament,  ably  backed  by 
the  Encyclopaedists,  with  the  Jansenists.  In  1753 
the  trouble  threatened  most  serious  consequences. 
The  Archbishop  had  issued  an  order  refusing  the 
sacraments  to  all  who  were  not  furnished  with  a 
"  billet  de  confession "  signed  by  an  anti-Jansenist 
cure.  The  Parliament  condemned  this  order,  which 
the  King  had  approved,  and  on  the  5th  of  May 
all  its  members  except  those  of  the  Grand'  Chambre 
were  arrested  by  lettres  de  cachet.  On  the  8th  all 
the  Presidents  and  Councillors  of  "  enquetes "  and 
"requetes"  were  taken  from  their  homes  in  the  night 
by  Mousquetaires  and  sent  to  separate  places  of  ex- 
ile. The  next  day  the  Crand'  Chambre  met  and  pro- 
tested, and  was  promptly  exiled  to  Pontoise.  Thus 
the  Palais  was  left  without  either  magistrates  or  hear- 
ings, a  thing  that  had  only  happened  four  times  be- 


438  PAKIS. 

fore — three  times  in  the  fifteenth  century,  on  account 
respectively  of  a  flood,  a  pestilence,  and  a  severe 
freeze,  probably  what  would  now  be  called  a  "  bliz- 
zard," and  once  again  during  the  Fronde.  Confined 
first  at  Pontoise,  then  sent  to  Soissons,  the  Parlia- 
ment found,  however,  that  it  was  as  powerful  in  ban- 
ishment as  at  the  Palais  itself,  and  continued  to  issue 
orders  which  caused  the  greatest  inconvenience  in 
Paris.  No  one  paid  much  attention  to  the  "  Chambre 
Royale  "  appointed  to  represent  it,  and  which  held  its 
sittings  in  the  Louvre.  An  order  comes  from  Pon- 
toise forbidding  the  gaolers  of  the  Conciergerie  to 
deliver  prisoners  to  the  Chambre  Royale.  Fresh  pris- 
oners were  received,  but  none  were  sent  away,  and 
in  1753  the  Marquis  d'Argenson  writes  that  "the 
prisons  of  the  Conciergerie  of  the  Palais  are  infected 
by  the  quantity  of  prisoners  confined  there.  .  .  . 
They  are  afraid  the  plague  may  break  out  in  Paris." 
At  last,  in  August,  the  King  was  glad  to  make  the 
birth  of  the  Due  de  Berry — afterwards  Louis  XVI. 
— the  pretext  for  a  reconciliation,  and  recalled  the 
exiles  to  Paris.  Li  1770  Louis  XV.  came  to  the 
Grand'  Chambre  to  "  exercise  for  the  last  time  that 
prerogative  of  royalty,  the  personal  administration  of 
justice ;"  and  all  to  no  avail,  too.  It  was  the  aftair 
of  the  Due  d'Aiguillon,  accused  by  the  Rennes  Par- 
liament of  "  abuse  of  power."  The  Parliament,  in 
the  teeth  of  the  King,  found  him  guilty  ;  the  King 
cancelled  the  finding.     In  the  following  year  the  Par- 


LOUIS  XV.  439 

liament  suspended  the  Duke  from  his  functions  of 
peer.  A  fresh  lit  de  justice,  held  at  Versailles,  again 
broke  the  sentence,  and  a  warning  was  sent  to  the 
members  of  the  Parliament.  These  replied  that  as  they 
felt  they  were  no  longer  sufficiently  free  to  be  just,  they 
would  cease  to  judge.  On  the  19th  of  January,  1771, 
at  four  o'clock  in  the  morning,  a  Mousquetaire  pre- 
sented himself  at  the  door  of  each  member  with  a 
summons  requiring  him  to  state  yes,  or  no,  whether 
he  proposed  to  resume  the  administration  of  justice ; 
all  but  twenty-nine  wrote  "  no,"  and  the  others 
followed  suit  the  next  day.  They  were  all  then 
declared  deprived  of  their  powers,  and,  seized  in 
their  own  homes  by  Mousquetaires,  were  escorted  to 
separate  places  of  exile. 

The  Parliament,  after  an  existence  of  upwards  of 
five  hundred  years,  Ava^  abolished,  and  Paris  appar- 
ently looked  on  with  the  most  perfect  indifference, 
and  made  not  the  smallest  effort  to  save  it. 

Still  another  fire  attacked  the  Palais  de  la  Cite. 
This  one,  in  1776,  had  its  origin  in  the  prisoners' 
gallery,  and  was  thought  to  have  been  started  by  them. 
Fifteen,  indeed,  managed  to  escape  in  the  confusion, 
while  the  others  were  scattered  about  in  the  different 
prisons  of  Paris.  All  the  shops  in  the  Galerie  Mer- 
ciere  were  destroyed  (many  of  them  occupied  by  rich 
jewellers),  as  well  as  the  Chancellerie,  established  in 
the  chamber  of  Saint  Louis,  the  ancient  apartments 
of  the  Queen  in  the  Galerie  Merciere,  and  a  mass  of 


440  PARIS. 

valuable  papers  deposited  in  the  different  registry 
offices.  "  More  than  two  thousand  families  will  find 
themselves  stripped  of  their  title-deeds,"  says  one 
account. 

The  Parisians  were  taxed  to  pay  for  the  restora- 
tion, and  the  work  under  Desmaisons,  assisted  by 
Moreau,  Couture  and  Antoine,  was  begun  in  1781. 
The  Galerie  Merciere  and  the  Galerie  des  Prison- 
niers  were  rebuilt.  The  Tour  de  Montgommery  was 
so  much  injured  that  it  was  torn  down,  the  last  per- 
son confined  there  having  been  Damiens,  who  occu- 
pied the  same  cell  on  the  second  floor  as  that  used  for 
Kavaillac.  Damiens,  who  tried  to  kill  Louis  XV.  by 
stabbing  him  Avith  a  penknife  at  Versailles  in  1757, 
was  first  made  to  undergo  a  torture  that  would  have 
crippled  him  had  he  been  allowed  to  live,  was  kept 
there  under  an  extraordinary  guard  for  nearly  two 
months  and  a  half,  and  then  executed  at  the  Greve. 
Desmaisons  replaced  the  tower  by  a  courtyard  and 
certain  buildings  intended  to  separate  the  male  and 
female  prisoners  of  the  Conciergerie,  and  built  a 
new  chapel.  The  irregular  Hne  of  little  shops  that 
encumbered  the  palace  along  the  Rue  de  la  Baril- 
lerie  was  cleared  away,  and  replaced  by  an  elegant 
grating  designed  by  Antoine.  The  court,  now  brought 
to  light  for  the  first  time,  was  flanked  by  two  aisles 
of  Doric  columns,  but  in  obedience  to  what  has  been 
cafled  the  "  tyranny  of  regularity,  the  vandalism  of 
symmetry,"  in  order  to  get  the  left  one  in  where 


LOUIS  XV.  441 

it  would  exactly  correspond  to  the  other,  the  ex- 
quisite sacristy  of  the  same  date  as  the  Sainte 
Chapelle,  and  probably  designed  by  the  same  mas- 
ter, Pierre  de  Montereau,  was  torn  down ;  its  upper 
floor  had  served  for  upwards  of  five  hundred  years 
as  the  Tresor  des  Charfres.  By  means  of  three 
arcades  on  this  side,  a  communication  was  reopened 
between  the  Cour  du  Mai  and  the  Cour  de  la  Sainte 
Chapelle. 

The  stairway,  at  the  foot  of  which  so  many  books — 
Rousseau's  Emilc,  for  instance,  and  more  recently  still 
the  Memoires  of  Beaumarchais — have  been  publicly 
burned,  was  replaced  by  a  magnificent  one  leading  up 
directly  from  the  hne  of  the  eastern  facade.  Four  Doric 
columns  support  a  balconied  entablature,  on  which  are 
the  much  decried  statues  of  Strength  and  Abundance 
by  Berruyer,  and  Justice  and  Prudence  by  Lecomte. 
Pajou  executed  the  quadrangular  dome  with  its  sculp- 
tured angels  supporting  the  arms  of  France.  At  the 
foot  of  the  stairway  two  arcades  lead,  the  one  on  the 
right  to  the  Conciergerie,  and  that  on  the  left  to  the 
Tribunal  de  Sinqjle  Police. 

Another  transformation  in  the  neighborhood  of  the 
Palais  had  its  origin  in  a  fire.  On  the  27th  of  April, 
1718,  the  son  of  a  poor  woman  was  drowned  in  the 
Seine.  The  mother  was  told  that  if  she  would  place  a 
lighted  taper  and  a  loaf  of  bread,  blessed  under  the 
invocation  of  Saint  Nicholas,  in  a  wooden  bowl,  and 
set  it  afloat,  she  would  recover  the  body.     With  im- 


442  PAEIS. 

plicit  faitli  she  carried  out  the  directions.  The  bowl 
sailed  off,  and  presently  set  fire  to  a  boat  loaded  with 
hay  moored  to  the  Quai  de  la  Tournelle.  The  dealers 
in  wood,  fearing  for  their  boats  close  by,  cut  it  adrift, 
and  in  a  short  time  it  was  carried  in  among  the  float- 
ing logs  and  debris,  caught  in  the  arches  of  the  Petit- 
Pont,  and  a  terrible  fire  was  the  result.  The  bridge, 
Avith  all  its  houses,  was  destroyed ;  only  the  solid 
masonry  of  the  piers  survived.  On  this  were  con- 
structed— and  immediately  too,  for  the  Petit-Pont  was 
of  far  too  great  importance  to  do  without  for  any 
longer  than  necessary — three  great  stone  arches,  which 
existed  until  the  middle  of  the  present  century ;  but 
the  Parliament  issued  an  order  forbidding  the  erec- 
tion from  thenceforth  of  any  houses  on  the  bridge, 
whether  the  property  of  the  city  or  of  private  indi- 
viduals. 

Six  years  later  the  Petit  Chatelet  was  ceded  to  the 
Hotel  Dieu ;  the  intention  was  to  use  the  site  to  ex- 
tend the  hospital.  This  was  never  done,  but  the 
building  was  nevertheless  torn  down  in  1782,  to  the 
hearty  satisfaction  of  the  inhabitants  of  the  neighbor- 
hood, deprived  by  its  gloomy  walls  of  much  air  and 
light.  One  of  the  few  pleasing  ceremonies  of  which 
it  had  been  the  scene  was  the  yearly  procession — on 
Palm  Sunday — of  the  clergy  of  Notre  Dame  ;  the  doors 
of  the  cells  were  then  thrown  open  and  the  officiating 
priest  singled  out  a  prisoner,  who  joined  the  proces- 
sion back  to  the  Cathedral  and  was  then  set  at  liberty. 


^ijililtertj. 


LOUIS  XV.  443 

In  1775  the  Ecoles  de  Medecine  were  transferred 
from  the  Rue  de  \a  Bucherie  to  the  old  quarters  ot 
the  Ecoles  de  la  Faculte  de  droit,  on  the  Rue  St. 
Jean  de  Beauvais,  these  last  having  gone  to  the  new 
Place  Ste.  Genevieve.  The  reason  for  the  change 
was  the  dilapidated  condition  of  the  buildings,  but 
those  on  the  Rue  St.  Jean  de  Beauvais  were  soon 
found  to  be  almost  equally  ruinous.  The  King  was 
petitioned  to  allow  the  use  of  the  hospital  building  of 
St.  Jacques,  then  vacant,  but  no  attention  was  paid  to 
the  request,  and  it  was  not  until  the  close  of  the  Revo- 
lution that  the  Ecoles  des  Medecine  could  get  a  suit- 
able lodging. 

We  will  now  follow  the  Ecoles  de  droit  to  their 
new  home.  The  canons  of  Ste.  Genevieve  had  long 
been  desirous  of  rebuilding  their  ancient  church, 
when  Louis  XV. 's  recovery  at  Metz  gave  them  an 
excuse.  The  young  King,  on  being  assured  that  he 
owed  his  life  to  the  intercession  of  the  Patroness  of 
Paris,  willingly  agreed  to  do  something  in  her  honor. 
In  1754  a  tax  levied  on  lottery  tickets  brought  in  the 
necessary  funds.  Soufflot  was  engaged  to  furnish 
the  designs,  and  the  work  of  preparing  the  founda- 
tions was  begun  in  1757.  Extraordinary  difficulties 
had  to  be  overcome.  Soufflot's  plan  required  sub- 
structures of  great  strength  and  depth,  and  it  was 
found  that  the  hillside  was  honeycombed  with  ex- 
cavations, remains  of  the  potteries  and  quarries  es- 
tablished on  the  Mons  Lucotetius  by  the  Gallo-Romans. 


444  PAEIS. 

It  was  not  until  1764  that  Louis  XV.  laid  the  corner- 
stone, and  on  the  death  of  Soufflot,  sixteen  years  later, 
the  building  had  only  reached  the  base  of  the  dome. 
Soufilot  was  buried  in  the  incompleted  church,  and 
Rondelet,  one  of  his  pupils,  went  on  with  it.  The 
range  of  airy  columns  on  Avhich  the  dome  was  to  rest, 
being  found  insufficient  for  the  weight,  were  replaced 
by  solid  pillars  connected  by  arches ;  otherwise  Souf- 
flot's  plan,  a  Greek  cross  surmounted  at  the  intersec- 
tion by  a  dome  and  cupola,  and  a  magnificent  portico 
with  twenty-two  fluted  Corinthian  columns,  was  car- 
ried out.  Of  the  vicissitudes  through  which  it  was 
to  pass  we  will  speak  in  the  next  chapter.  While 
the  new  church  of  Ste.  Genevieve  was  building  the 
canons  continued  to  occupy  the  old  one,  standing  a 
little  to  the  south-west ;  it  was  not  pulled  down  until 
1807,  and  the  tower  is  still  standing.  To  open  the 
new  Place  Ste.  Genevieve  the  fourteenth  century 
College  de  Lisieux  was  demolished,  a  part  of  the  site 
being  used  for  the  new  Ecoles  de  droit.  Soufflot  pre- 
pared the  plans  and  declined  to  receive  any  payment, 
in  acknowledgment  of  Avliich  his  descendants  of  the 
same  name  have  the  privilege  of  attending  the  courses 
free  of  charge.  The  college  of  Lisieux  meanwhile 
was  moved  to  that  of  Louis-le-Grand.  It  was  in  the 
old  quarters  of  this  college  that  Sorel  laid  a  part  of 
the  scene  of  Vllistoire  Comiqite  de  Francion,  the  pic- 
ture being  anything  but  "  comic  "  in  its  details  of 
needless  severity  and  privation. 


LOUIS  XV.  445 

South  of  Ste.  Genevieve  is  the  great  church  of  Val 
cle  Grace,  founded  by  Anne  of  Austria  in  gratitude 
for  the  birth  of  a  Dauphin,  Louis  XIV.  Mansard, 
Le  Mercier  and  Le  Muet  were  the  architects.  The  con- 
vent and  garden  are  now  used  for  a  military  hospitaL 

The  church  of  St.  Sulpice,  which  we  find  occupy- 
ing the  site  of  a  small  twelfth  century  chapel  of  the 
same  name,  was  finished  in  1745,  ninety -nine  years 
after  Anne  of  Austria  had  laid  the  corner-stone.  The 
parish  is  an  important  one,  and  the  church,  by  reason  of 
its  great  size  and  fine  facade,  is  imposing  ;  no  less  than 
five  architects  had  a  hand  in  it.  Servandoni  executed 
the  west  fagade,  with  its  Doric  and  Ionic  columns,  while 
the  two  towers  that  flank  the  portal  are,  the  north 
one  by  Chalgrin  and  the  south  one  by  Maclaurin. 

The  great  fountain  on  the  Rue  de  Grenelle  de  St. 
Germain,  off  to  the  west,  w^as  put  up  in  1739  by 
Bouchardon,  "aus  frais  et  pour  les  besoins  de  la 
Ville."  The  draped  figure  surmounting  it  represents 
Paris,  and  the  reclining  statues  on  either  side  are 
the  Seine  and  the  Marne. 

The  Rue  de  Seine  will  take  us  very  near  the  Hotel 
des  Monnaies,  begun  in  1771  by  order  of  Louis  XV. 
on  the  domain  of  the  Hotel  de  Conti,  formerly  Guene- 
gaud.  The  building,  designed  by  Jacques  Denis  An- 
toine,  fronts  on  the  Quai  de  Conti.  Six  Ionic  col- 
umns rest  on  a  substructure  of  arcades ;  in  front  of  the 
attic  are  a  row  of  allegorical  statues.  On  the  second 
floor  is  the  museum  of  coins,  a  magnificently  deco- 


446  PARIS. 

rated  hall,  which  served  originally  for  the  lectures  of 
Balthasar  Georges  Sage,  the  father  of  metallurgy  in 
France.  The  bust  of  Antoine,  the  architect,  who,  the 
son  of  a  joiner,  started  life  as  a  simple  mason,  stands 
on  the  stairway  leading  to  the  museum  5  it  was  only 
placed  there,  however,  in  1839.  The  statues  repre- 
senting the  four  elements,  on  the  facade  on  the  Rue 
Guenegaud,  are  by  Caflfieri  and  Dupre.  The  Petit 
Hotel  de  Conti,  an  addition  made  by  the  widow  of  Ar- 
raand  de  Bourbon,  Prince  de  Conti,  to  the  main  hotel, 
was  incorporated  into  the  Hotel  des  Monnaies,  where 
its  charming  facade  may  still  be  seen  overlooking  the 
garden.  It  was  at  this  time  that  the  Abbot  of  St. 
Germain  des  Pres,  the  Cardinal  de  Furstenberg,  sold 
some  of  the  abbey  property  to  raise  money  for  the 
restoration  of  the  "  Palais  Abbatial."  The  streets 
called  Furstenberg,  Cardinale,  Abbatiale  and  Childe- 
bert,  were  opened  and  built  up,  and  the  palace,  which 
dates  from  the  sixteenth  century  (Cardinal  Charles  de 
Bourbon  began  it  in  3586),  is  still  standing.  Its  brick 
and  stone  fagade  may  be  seen  on  the  Rue  de  I'Abbaye. 
Finally,  we  will  call  attention  to  the  octroi  wall 
built  by  Louis  XVI.  on  the  line  of  the  old  fortifica- 
tions, at  the  suggestion  of  the  "  fermiers  generaux." 
As  its  object  was  to  facilitate  the  levying  of  a  duty 
on  all  articles  of  food  brought  into  the  Capital,  it  was 
naturally  an  unpopular  work,  and  called  forth  the 
well-known  play  upon  words  : 

"Le  mur  murant  Paris  rend  Paris  raurmurant. " 


REVOLUTION,  CONSULATE  AND  FIRST  EMPIRE.    447 


CHAPTER    XL 

THE   REVOLUTION,   THE    CONSULATE,    AND   THE    FIRST 
EMPIRE. 

The  interest  of  Revolutionary  Paris  is  so  entirely 
historical  that  it  is  not  easy  to  introduce  the  story  of 
its  buildings.  To  give  the  reader  a  full  conception 
of  what  those  buildings  mean,  it  would  be  necessary 
to  tell  the  story  of  the  Revolution.  Since  this  is  im- 
possible, let  us  describe  the  leading  features  of  Paris 
during  those  few  years.  Many  of  these  will  be  un- 
derstood from  the  two  preceding  chapters.  For  ex- 
ample, the  great  size  of  the  city,  its  full,  wide  ex- 
terior streets,  its  very  great  population  (probably 
three-quarters  of  a  million),  whose  exact  numbers 
have  never  been  properly  ascertained  on  account  of 
the  hopelessly  slipshod  methods  of  the  old  regime. 
Then,  again,  the  reader  will  have  a  clear  conception 
of  the  social  condition  of  the  great  capital  Avhich  so 
violently  reassumed  the  leadership  of  France ;  its 
great  majority  of  artisans  whom  the  Constitution  of 
1791  disfranchised  and  turned  into  disorderly  mobs ; 
the  fact  that  the  court  and  aristocracy  had  abandoned 
the  city  for  a  century,  and  that  the  leaders  of  the 
political  movement  coidd  only  be  the  lawyers  and  the 
professional  classes.  Again,  it  is  evident  that  the 
rapid  growth  of  a  city  which  had  become  three-quar- 


448  PARIS. 

ters  the  size  of  Philadelphia  or  Chicago,  and  more 
than  twice  the  size  of  San  Francisco,  produced  a 
kind  of  chronic  famine  under  the  conditions  of  the 
old  regime.  Imagine  a  place  with  that  population 
with  all  the  vexatious  mediseval  taxes  levied  upon  its 
food-supply  and  interfering  with  its  communications 
and  exchange ;  with  no  police  save  that  hopeless 
jumble  of  conflicting  jurisdictions,  the  Chatelet,  the 
Prevote,  and  the  occasional  military  force  of  the 
guard,  and  then  you  will  easily  comprehend  the 
"  spontaneous  anarchy  "  of  '89.  To  make  a  bird's- 
eye  view,  as  it  were,  of  the  physical  movement  of 
the  Revolution  within  the  houses  of  Paris,  you  must 
conceive  the  city  as  a  great  whirlpool.  Huge  outly- 
ing suburbs,  full  of  the  hungry  artisans,  send  in  by  a 
kind  of  centripetal  force  the  mobs  which  whirl  around 
the  brains  of  the  leaders  at  the  centre.  This  is  not 
only  a  metaphor,  it  is  a  topographical  truth.  The 
heat  of  the  Revolution,  its  focus,  is  within  two  square 
miles  or  less.  The  Revolutionary  Tribunal  on  the 
Island  of  the  Cite,  the  Mairie  in  the  same  place,  also 
the  police,  are  the  centre.  Then  in  an  outer  ring  are 
the  Jacobins,  the  Tuileries,  the  Cordeliers,  the  Hotel 
de  Ville ;  and,  without  being  too  fantastic,  we  may 
imagine  this  great  maelstrom  throwing  from  its  outer 
circumference  like  irresistible  currents  the  armies, 
the  commissioners,  the  orders  to  the  provinces,  and, 
finally,  the  propaganda  of  democracy  which  has  trans- 
formed Europe. 


REVOLUTION,  CONSULATE  AND  FIRST  EMPIRE.    449 

The  outer  part  of  that  great  circle  was  ah-eady  be- 
ginning to  be  modernized  with  its  white  houses,  great 
spaces,  straight  roads  and  boulevards.  The  centre 
was  old,  tortuous,  dark  and  high,  and  pressed  around 
Notre  Dame,  whose  towers  were  embedded  in  houses. 
The  faubourgs  send  in  their  streams  by  easy  great 
roads,  and  the  central  streets,  as  narrow  as  lanes, 
condense  the  flood  into  violent  eddies  and  torrents. 
Thus  you  have  the  tumultuous  waves  of  the  Place  de 
Greve  on  the  5th  of  October  and  the  9th  Thermidor. 
Thus  also  you  have  the  mill-stream  of  that  Revolu- 
tionary gorge,  the  Rue  St.  Honore,  pouring  its  vic- 
tims into  the  grinding  of  the  guillotine  on  the  Place 
de  la  Revolution,  which  was  its  outlet  and  its  pool. 

One  thing  remains  to  be  said :  the  sites  of  the 
Revolution  have  disappeared,  and  by  a  curious  irony 
the  Commune  of  1871  destroyed  the  central  land- 
marks that  yet  remained.  The  theatre  of  the  Tuil- 
eries  in  which  all  the  great  debates  were  heard,  the 
prefecture  of  the  police,  the  hall  of  the  Revolutionary 
Tribunal  from  whence  Danton's  loud  voice  was  heard 
beyond  the  river,  the  Hotel  de  Ville  where  Robes- 
pierre made  his  last  stand,  have  all  been  consumed. 
It  is  almost  true  to  say  that  one  single  historic  room 
remains — the  hall  in  which  the  Cordeliers  debated  is 
now  the  Musee  du  Puytren,  full  of  skeletons  and 
physiological  anomalies. 

It  was  on  the  12th  of  July,  1789,  that  Camille 
Desmoulins  brought  to  the  eager  crowds  gathered  in 

29 


450  PARIS. 

the  Palais  Royal  the  news  of  Necker's  dismissal,  and 
told  them  that  the  German  and  Swiss  guards  stationed 
on  the  Champ  de  Mars  only  awaited  the  cover  of 
darkness  to  attack  them ;  their  sole  hope  lay  in  at 
once  arming  and  preparing  to  resist.  Then  followed 
the  procession  through  the  streets  with  the  wax  busts 
of  Necker  and  the  Duke  d'Orleans  carried  aloft,  the 
pillaging  of  gunsmiths'  and  bakers'  shops,  for  they 
were  hungry  as  well  as  resentful,  and  that  night  of 
fearful  tumult  and  disorder,  the  first  and  typical  night 
of  the  French  Revolution. 

The  Assembly  of  Electors,  chosen  to  elect  depu- 
ties to  the  States  General,  were  in  session  at  the 
Hotel  de  Ville  ;  thither  came  the  crowds  the  next  day, 
demanding  that  the  Guet  and  the  Garde  de  la  Ville 
should  be  disarmed  and  their  weapons  given  to  them, 
and  that  they,  the  people,  should  be  formed  into  a 
Garde  Bourgeoise.  These  things  the  Assembly  not 
unnaturally  hesitated  to  do,  particularly  as,  in  its  char- 
acter of  a  municipal  governing  body  for  Paris,  it  was 
entirely  self-constituted.  The  people,  however,  knew 
how  to  insist.  ^^  The  doors,"  says  the  proces  verbal, 
"  were  beaten  in,  the  arms  seized,  and  an  instant  later 
a  man,  barelegged,  barefooted,  clad  only  in  a  shirt, 
was  seen  shouldering  the  gun  of  a  disarmed  city 
guard  and  proudly  acting  as  sentinel  at  the  door  of  the 
Grand'  Salle."  The  Electors  then  organized  the 
"  Milice  Parisienne,"  christened  three  days  later  by 
its  newly-elected  commandant,  the  Marquis  de  La 


REVOLUTION,  CONSULATE  AND  FIRST  EMPIRE.   451 

Fayette,  the  Garde  Nationale.  Article  ten  of  the 
resolution  provides  that  the  colors  shall  be  those  of 
the  city,  and  that  each  member  shall  wear,  therefore, 
a  blue  and  red  cockade.  On  the  17th,  when  the 
King  —brought  in  procession  from  Versailles  by  depu- 
ties of  the  tiers  etat,  La  Fayette,  Lally-Tollendal, 
and  others — wished  to  wear  one,  Avhite,  the  royal  color, 
was  added,  and  the  tricolor  created:*  Louis  XVI. 
had  come  by  the  same  route  as  that  followed  by 
Henry  IV.  when  he  entered  Paris,  the  same  keys 
had  been  presented  to  him  on  a  silver  tray,  and 
Lally-Tollendal  wound  up  his  speech  by  saying,  in 
allusion  to  the  Bearnais:  "He  reconquered  his  people, 
now  the  people  have  reconquered  their  King,"  which 
Avas  strictly  true.  So  the  King  mounted  to  the  Grand' 
Salle  and  showed  himself  to  enthusiastic  crowds  from  a 
window  directly  over  the  bas-relief  of  the  great  founder 
of  his  house.  Bailly  was  elected  "  First  Mayor  of 
Paris  "  by  acclamation,  and  everything  passed  with 
great  good  humor.  Less  than  three  months  later  a 
crowd,  composed  chiefly  of  women  from  the  HaUes, 
who  had  gathered  in  the  Place  de  Greve  in  the  hope  of 
hanging  a  baker  accused  of  false  weights,  lost  its  vic- 
tim through  the  unprecedented  activity  of  the  National 

*  There  are  various  other  theories  as  to  the  origin  of  the  tri- 
color. One  is  that  it  was  tlie  livery  of  the  Duke  of  Orleans,  and 
another  that  it  represented  the  three  orders  :  people,  noblesse,  and 
clergy.  Camille  Desmoulin's  suggestion  of  green  had  been  aban- 
doned because  it  was  the  livery  of  the  Comte  d'Artois. 


452  PARIS. 

Guard  in  his  behalf.  Then  some  one  began  to  talk 
of  plots — plots  at  the  court — and  some  one  else  cried, 
^'  To  Versailles !"  In  a  moment  the  thing  was  decided. 
Bailly  and  La  Fayette  refusing  to  give  them  arms, 
the  guards  were  overpowered,  the  doors  beaten  down, 
and  the  mob  swarmed  into  the  Hotel  de  Ville  and 
up  to  the  Arsenal,  situated  beneath  the  roof.  Here 
they  met  with  an  obstacle.  Abbe  Lefebvre,  the  man 
Avho  in  Jidy  had  prevented  an  explosion  of  powder 
by  which  the  Hotel  de  Ville  would  have  been  utterly 
wrecked,  and  who  had,  in  consequence,  been  made 
guardian  of  the  Arsenal,  threw  himself  across  the 
little  stair  leading  to  the  belfry  and  declared  they 
would  have  to  kill  him  before  going  further.  He 
was  strung  up  to  a  cross-beam,  but  a  man  in  the 
crowd  disguised  as  a  woman  cut  him  down. 

Maillard,  who  was  leading  the  mob,  had  trouble  in 
preventing  them  from  setting  fire  to  the  Hotel  de 
Ville  after  piUaging  it.  At  last  he  got  them  all  out 
on  the  Place  de  Greve.  The  tocsin  had  been  ringing 
for  some  time  and  fresh  bands  of  men  and  women 
were  constantly  arriving,  horses  from  passing  carriages 
were  hitched  to  the  heavy  guns,  women  seated  them- 
selves astride"'of  them,  and  the  procession  started  for 
Versailles.  On  the  next  day,  October  6th,  they  re- 
turned, a  hooting,  yelping  pack  of  furies,  escorting 
the  royal  family  in  their  midst,  and  bearing  on  high 
the  heads  of  those  of  the  bodyguard  who  had  re- 
mained faithful  to   their  posts.      Marie  Antoinette 


REVOLUTION,  CONSULATE  AND  FIRST  EMPIRE.    453 

showed  the  first  sign  of  emotion  in  passing  the  noto- 
rious street  himp  at  the  corner  of  the  Rue  de  la  Van- 
nerie,  but  when  she  and  the  King  had  passed  up  the 
stairway  under  a  roof  of  crossed  pikes  and  sabres, 
and  found  themselves  in  the  Grand'  8alle,  her  self- 
control  returned.  She  reminded  the  Mayor  of  some 
words  he  had  omitted  in  the  address  he  delivered 
in  the  King's  name  to  the  people.  "  His  Majesty," 
said  Bailly,  "  returns  to  his  good  city  of  Paris  with 
joy " — "  and  Avitli  confidence,"  added  the  Queen. 
"  It  is  better,"  continued  the  Mayor,  "  than  if  I  had 
said  those  words  myself." 

The  Corjis  Municipal,  or  Commune,  was  organized 
on  the  2lst  of  May,  1792.  When,  in  cases  of  special 
emergency,  the  ninety-six  notables  were  called  in 
to  deliberate  with  them,  they  became  the  Conseil 
General.  This  body  remained  almost  uninterrupt- 
edly in  session  in  the  Grand'  Salle  of  the  Hotel  de 
Ville  from  May  to  August.  Between  one  and  two 
o'clock  on  the  night  of  the  9th-10th  of  that  month 
the  Faubourg  St.  Antoine  proclaimed  a  state  of  in- 
surrection, and  Huguenin,  at  the  head  of  the  repre- 
sentatives of  the  twenty-eight  sections  who  were 
favorable  to  the  petition  of  Mauconseil,  established 
himself  in  a  room  close  by  the  Grand'  Salle.  The  two 
Communes,  one  legal  and  the  other  insurrectionary, 
remained  in  session  side  by  side  until  five  o'clock. 
M.  de  Mandat,  summoned  to  answer  certain  charges 
connected  with  the  disposal  of  the  Garde  Nationale 


454  PAEIS. 

at  the  Tuileries,  was  heard  and  acquitted  by  the  first, 
but  as  he  was  about  leaving  the  Hotel  de  Ville  was 
stopped  by  the  other,  questioned  amid  a  frightful  up- 
roar, and  dismissed  from  his  command,  which  was  at 
once  assumed  by  the  brewer  Santerre.  Mandat  Avas 
shot  as  he  was  leaving  the  Hotel  de  Ville.  The 
efforts  made  by  the  legal  Commune  to  reclaim  and 
save  him  had  been  answered  by  Huguenin  with  the 
declaration  that  he  and  his  associates  were  the  rep- 
resentatives of  the  "  peuple  souverain  "  and  all  pow- 
erful, and  that  from  thenceforth  the  other  body  was 
nothing.  Two  members  only  and  the  Mayor,  Petion, 
were  taken  into  the  new  Council,  and  the  Commune 
of  August  10th  was  created.  That  same  night  Marat, 
crowned  with  laurels  but  shaking  with  fear,  was 
brought  thither  in  triumph  from  his  cellar,  and 
Robespierre  soon  followed.  These  two  men,  Robes- 
pierre particularly,  understood  perfectly  that  in  order 
to  control  a  Revolution  where  the  sovereignty  of 
Paris  had  replaced  that  of  the  throne,  the  possession 
of  the  Hotel  de  Ville  was  of  the  first  necessity. 
Marat  was  there  constantly,  and  had  a  tribune  for 
himself  and  the  reporter  of  his  new  newspaper,  the 
Journal  de  la  Bepiiblique  (successor  to  L'Anii  du 
Peuple)^  set  up  in  the  Grand'  Salle,  while  Robes- 
pierre, less  conspicuous,  nevertheless  used  the  Hotel 
de  Ville  as  the  base  of  all  his  operations.  Here 
were  soon  concentrated  the  various  departments  of 
the  Government.   Directory  and  municipality,  mayor- 


KEVOLUTION,  CONSULATE  AND  FIRST  EMPIRE.   455 

alty  and  prefecture,  the  bureaus  of  the  police,  of  the 
post  (the  vioktion  of  t]ie  mails  was  one  of  the  Com- 
mune's most  effectual  detective  systems),  even  the 
direction  of  the  opera  and  theatre,  were  for  a  time 
centred  at  the  Hotel  de  Ville,  where  the  strictest 
censorship  was  exercised. 

Efforts  were  made  from  time  to  time  by  the  As- 
sembly to  force  the  Commune  to  answer  for  some  of 
its  acts,  but  Huguenin,  the  nominal  leader,  paid  no 
attention  to  the  summons.  Then,  on  the  30th  of 
August,  the  Assembly  ordered  that  the  sections 
should  be  called  together  to  elect  a  new  Commune ; 
the  Hotel  de  Ville  met  this  by  decreeing  the  Sep- 
tember massacres. 

"  The  members  of  the  insurrectionary  Commune," 
says  M.  Wallon  in  La  Terreiir,  "  finding  themselves 
about  to  be  turned  out  of  doors,  not  as  usurpers  only 
but  as  thieves,  threw  themselves  into  that  horrible 
carnage."  A  Comite  de  Surveillance  directed  the 
work,  and  when  it  was  over  reported  to  Robespierre 
in  the  Grand'  Salle  of  the  Hotel  de  Ville.*  Here  he 
was  seen  by  Mme.  de  Stael,  brought  thither  to  ex- 
plain her  attempt  to  leave  Paris.  Manuel  helped  to 
save  her  by  letting  her  take  refuge  in  his  room  while 
awaiting  her  passport.  She  tells  of  looking  out  of 
the  window  and  seeing  the  people  streaming  back  to 


*  It  is  maintained  by  some  historians  that  the  members  of  the 
Commune  were  not  responsible  for  tlie  September  massacres,  and 
are  only  to  be  blamed  for  not  preventing  them. 


456  PARIS. 

the  Place  de  Greve,  barearmed,  bloody,  and  shout- 
ing horribly. 

The  "  Terror "  was  directed  from  the  Hotel  de 
Ville,  or  Maison  Commune  as  it  was  called,  in  legal 
phraseology,  and  everything  done  in  the  name  of  the 
"  ]\Iunicipality  of  Paris."  It  was  the  tocsin  rung 
there  on  the  31st  of  May,  1793,  by  Marat,  Avith  his 
own  hands,  that  recalled  the  twenty  thousand  volun- 
teers, supposed  to  be  well  on  their  way  to  the  Ven- 
dee, under  Henriot.  Under  compulsion  from  them 
the  Convention  voted  the  arrest,  on  June  2d,  of  the 
twenty-two  Girondins,  the  Committee  of  Twelve,  and 
the  two  Ministers,  Claviere  and  Lebrun.  And  it  was 
at  the  Hotel  de  Ville  that  Robespierre  sat  hesitating, 
pen  in  hand,  on  the  night  of  the  9th  Thermidor. 
After  the  arrest  of  himself,  Saint  Just,  and  Couthon,  he 
had  been  offered  his  liberty  at  the  Luxembourg  prison 
and  had  refused;  it  would  be  illegal,  it  would  place  him 
as  a  lawbreaker  at  the  head  of  a  mob,  without  order  or 
authority  to  rest  on.  He  insisted  on  being  taken  to  the 
Mairie  in  the  Rue  de  Jerusalem,  but  on  arriving  there 
he  was  received  with  acclamations,  and  set  at  liberty  in 
spite  of  himself.  His  associates,  meanwhile,  also  set 
free,  had  returned  to  the  Hotel  de  Ville  and  were  send- 
ing him  urgent  messages  to  come  while  there  was  yet 
time,  and  by  taking  the  direction  of  affairs  forestall 
the  action  of  the  Convention.  Still  he  refused.  At 
last  Auvergnat  Coffinhal,  vice-president  of  the  Revo- 
lutionary Tribunal,  succeeded  in  moving  him,  but  it 


REVOLUTION,  CONSULATE  AND  FIRST  EMPIRE.    457 

was  too  late.     Robespierre,  skulking  in  at  night  like 
a  thief,  instead  of  riding  up  boldly  in  broad  daylight, 
could  accomplish  nothing.      The  Convention,  inspired 
bj  Barras,  decreed  that  Robespierre  and  the  Com- 
mune were  "  hors  la  loi,"  and  the  effect  was  startling. 
The  tribunes  of  the  Grand'  Salle,  where  the  Com- 
mune Avas  in  permanent   session,  became   suddenly 
deserted  when  the  announcement  was  made  by  Payan, 
the  agent-general,  who  affected  to  laugh   at  it.     It 
was  made   the  rallying  cry  in  the   streets,  with  the 
result  that  by  midnight  Barras  had  a  force  of  some 
four  thousand  Canonniers  and  National  Guardsmen 
at  the  Place  de  Carrousel,  while  the  Place  de  Greve 
Avas  almost   empty.     At  about  one   o'clock  Henriot, 
disturbed  by  the  quiet,  descended  bareheaded  and 
sword  in  hand ;  no  one  was  to  be  seen.     After  going 
as  far  as  the  arcade  of  St.  Jean,  to  see  if  any  bands 
were  coming  down  the  Rue  St.  Antoine,  and  finding 
there  the   same  silence  and  emptiness,  he  returned, 
wild  with  rage,  to  report  to  the  others.     They  had 
assembled  in  a  room  on  the  right  of  the  Grand'  Salle, 
called  then  Salle  de  I'Egalite,  and  later,  from  the  color 
of  its  hangings,  the   Cabinet   Vert.     Their  only  hope 
now  lay   in  the   Sections   des   Faubourgs ;    if  these 
should   assemble   on  the  Place  at  daybreak  the  ex- 
pected attack  might  be  repulsed.     They  accordingly 
began  preparing  proclamations   to  be  issued  at  once 
in  the  name  of  the  Commune.     That  to  the  Section 
des  Piques  (the  Place  Vendome),  important  from  its 


458  PARIS. 

position  close  to  the  Tuileries,  Avas  completed.  "Cour- 
age, patriots  of  the  Section  of  Pikes,"  it  ran;  "freedom 
triumphs ;  ah-eady  those  whose  firmness  made  them 
the  dread  of  traitors  are  at  liberty.  .  .  .  Tlie  rally- 
ing point  is  the  Commune,  from  whence  brave  Hen- 
riot  will  carry  out  the  orders  of  the  Committee  of 
Execution,  created  to  save  the  country." 

The  names  of  Payan,  Legrand,  Louvet  and  Lere- 
bours  Avere  written  at  the  foot  of  this  document,  and 
Robespierre,  still  hesitating,  still  deterred  by  his  sense 
of  the  illegality  of  the  act,  was  urgently  besought  to 
sign.     He  had  finally  taken  up  a  pen  and  written  the 

first  two  letters  of  his  name,  Ho ,  when  a  clamor 

w^as  heard  in  the  Place  de  Greve ;  in  the  moment  of 
intense  listening  that  followed  the  pen  dropped  from 
his  hand.  It  was  the  Section  des  Gravilliers,  recruited 
from  the  quarters  of  St.  Martin  and  the  Temple, 
hitherto  among  their  most  powerful  adherents,  now 
led  by  Leonard  Bourdon,  an  ally  of  Barras.  All 
further  doubt  was  ended  ;  to  every  one  of  those  men 
death  was  coming  in  a  few  days  or  hours  ;  it  was  only 
a  question  of  what  form  it  would  take,  and  this  some 
of  them  preferred  to  decide  for  themselves.  Hardly 
had  Bourdon  begun  to  range  liis  men  in  front  of  the 
Hotel  de  Ville  when  a  shot  was  heard  from  within, 
quickly  followed  by  another,  and  a  man  appeared  on 
the  cornice  in  front  of  the  windows,  took  a  few  steps, 
and  flung  himself  down  on  the  lines  of  bayonets  be- 
neath ;    almost  at  the  same   instant  the   figure   of 


REVOLUTION,  CONSULATE  AND  FIRST  EMPIRE.    459 

another  man  Avas  seen  being  violently  hurled  from  a 
window  of  the  second  floor  on  to  a  pile  of  broken 
bottles  in  a  corner  of  the  Place. 

The  first  shot  Avas  fired  by  Lebas ;  it  killed  him 
instantly.  The  other  Avas  Robespierre's  unsuccessful 
attempt  on  himself,  Avhich  only  resulted  in  breaking 
the  under  ja\A'.  It  aa'HS  his  brother  Avho  thrcAv  him- 
self from  the  cornice ;  Avhile  the  other  figure  Avas  that 
of  "brave  Henriot,"  pitched  headlong  by  Coffinhal, 
who  accused  him,  Avith  rage,  of  having  ruined  CA^ery- 
thing.  Both  of  these  men  Avere  picked  up  alive,  but 
only  to  be  executed  Avith  tAventy  others  on  the  same 
day.  Numbered  in  this  first  "  batch  "  Avere  Robespierre, 
Saint  Just,  Couthon,  Fleuriot,  the  Mayor,  and  the 
shoemaker  Simon.  BetAveen  then  and  the  22d  there 
Avere  ninety-tAvo  more  executed,  and  then  it  Avas  fin- 
ished ;  the  Terror  was  over.  As  has  been  said,  the 
Hotel  de  Ville  had  narroAvly  escaped  being  blown  up 
by  an  explosion  of  gunpoAvder ;  it  now  ran  as  great  a 
risk  at  the  hands  of  the  Assembly.  "  After  the  St. 
BartholomcAv,"  said  Freron  in  a  speech  before  the 
Convention,  "  I  should  haA^e  demanded  the  destruc- 
tion of  the  LouAa^e  ...  as  I  noAv  demand  that  of  the 
Hotel  de  Ville,  that  Louvre  of  the  tyrant  Robespierre." 

It  Avas  saved  by  the  common  sense  of  Bourdon, 
who  said  that  it  Avas  the  property  of  the  people  of 
Paris,  and  Granet  added  that  the  stones  of  Paris  Avere 
not  responsible  ;  "  punish  the  guilty  individuals  and 
demolish  nothing."     During  the  Revolution,  however 


460  PARIS. 

the  pictures,  sculptures  and  inscriptions,  call  savoring 
of  royalty  or  aristocracy,  had  been  destroyed.  An 
order  issued  in  March,  1792,  by  the  "  Municip- 
alite  de  Paris,"  directs  the  substitution  of  the  words 
"  Pubhcite,  Responsabilite,  Sauve  Garde  du  Peuple  " 
for  the  inscription  over  the  entrance,  and  another  of 
the  following  August  the  removal  of  the  figure  of 
Henry  IV. 

After  the  murder  of  Feraud  in  the  following  year 
a  mob  of  "  Terrorists  "  succeeded  iu  gaining  posses- 
sion of  the  Hotel  de  Ville,  but  were  quickly  driven 
out,  and  for  eight  years  no  governing  body  held  its 
sessions  there,  so  general  was  the  dread  that  any  form 
of  power  established  in  that  place  would  form  the 
basis  of  a  new  Commune. 

The  law  of  February  17,  1800,  creating  a  Prefect 
of  Police  and  another  of  the  Seine,  designated  the 
Hotel  de  Ville  as  the  official  residence  of  the  latter. 
M.  Frochot,  the  first  to  hold  this  office,  annexed  the 
buildings  of  St.  Esprit  and  the  site  of  the  ancient 
church  of  St.  Jean,  pulled  down,  except  the  large 
chapel  of  the  Communion,  by  a  man  named  Beltha 
during  the  Terror.  It  was  in  this  chapel,  called  the 
Salle  St.  Jean,  separated  from  the  Hotel  de  Ville  only 
by  a  narrow  alleyway,  that  Chaumette  held  his  famous 
Revolutionary  audiences.  It  was  now  reserved  for 
the  meetings  of  certain  scientific  societies,  and  for 
drawing  lots  and  other  business  connected  with  the 
conscription. 


KE VOLUTION,  CONSULATE  AND  FIRST  EMPIRE.   461 

In  1804,  when  preparations  for  the  coronation  of 
the  Emperor  were  being  made,  the  Hotel  de  Yille 
was  magniticentlj  fitted  out  from  top  to  bottom.  The 
Salle  du  Trone,  once  more  called  by  its  old  name, 
was  entirely  hung  with  crimson  velvet,  covered  with 
bees  in  gold  relief.  (In  1830,  when  these  were  re- 
moved to  give  place  to  new  ones  ornamented  with 
fleurs-de-lis,  the  walls  were  found  to  be  stiU  covered 
with  Revolutionary  placards  of  the  time  of  the  Com- 
mune.) On  December  16th  Napoleon  and  Josephine 
Avere  received  in  the  transformed  building  by  Frochot. 
In  the  court  where  the  imperial  banquet  was  spread 
was  erected  the  Salle  des  Victoires,  on  a  level  with 
the  throne  room,  Avhile  the  lower  floor  was  given  up 
to  the  ball-room  and  the  banquet-hall  for  the  guests. 
Magnificent  fireworks  were  shown  from  the  opposite 
bank  on  the  Island  of  the  Cite,  in  which  Napoleon's 
journey  across  the  Alps  was  represented.  When  the 
festival  was  over  the  Emperor  and  Empress  returned 
to  the  Tuileries  between  a  double  line  of  illuminations 
reaching  all  the  way  from  the  Grreve. 

Napoleon  came  alone  to  the  entertainment  given 
on  his  return  from  Vienna  in  1809,  and  ten  days 
later  his  divorce  from  Josephine  was  announced.  In 
1812  the  Hotel  de  Ville  was  again  chosen  as  the  ral- 
lying point  of  a  revolution,  but  one  that  failed.  Gen- 
eral Malet  proposed  to  establish  himself  there  at  the 
hoad  of  a  Provisional  Government,  after  spreading 
the  false  report  of  the  Emperor's  death.     Frochot  lost 


462  PARIS. 

his  head  completely/ and  forgetting  that  if  the  Em- 
peror were  dead  the  Empress  and  Roi  de  Rome  Avere 
still  at  the  Tuileries,  prepared  to  submit,  an  oversight 
that  cost  him  his  double  office  of  Prefect  and  Coun- 
cillor of  State. 

The  plans  for  rebuilding  the  Hotel  de  Ville  under 
Napoleon  were  frustrated  by  his  fall  in  1815,  and  the 
great  sum  of  money  which  had  been  voted  for  the 
purpose  was  swallowed  up  in  the  enormous  sums  the 
presence  of  the  allies  in  Paris  cost  the  city. 

On  the  day  of  the  capture  of  the  Bastille,  July 
14,  1789,  some  of  its  defenders  were  killed  by 
the  mob  in  the  Place  de  Grove.  M.  de  Launay 
was  struck  down  on  the  threshold  of  the  Hotel  de 
Ville  by  a  cook  named  Denot ;  M.  de  Losme-Salbray 
was  killed  under  the  arcade  of  St.  Jean ;  and  two 
canonniers — Invalides — were  hung  from  the  corner 
lamp  of  the  Rue  de  la  Vannerie  (the  street  has  now 
been  engulfed  by  the  Avenue  Victoria,  and  the  ex- 
act spot  would  be  a  little  south-west  of  the  present 
Place  de  I'Hotel  de  Ville).  The  lamp,  dismounted  so 
as  to  leave  its  iron  cross-rod  free  to  act  as  a  gibbet,  Avas 
not  replaced  for  four  Aveeks,  and  in  that  time  became 
so  famous,  by  reason  of  the  number  and  standing  of 
its  victims,  that  we  find  Camille  Desmoulins  proclaim- 
ing himself  "  Procureur  General  de  la  Lanterne." 
It  was  called  the  King's  Corner,  and  from  a  niche 
above  the  lamp  the  features  of  the  Grand  Roi  looked 
benignantly   down   at   the   executions^   each  one  of 


EEVOLUTION,  CONSULATE  AND  FIRST  EMPIRE.    463 

which  was  a  blow  aimed  at  royalty  itself.  Foulon 
was  hung  there  on  the  22d  of  July.  Twice  the  rope 
broke,  but  the  people  refused  to  dispatch  him  with 
swords  offered  for  the  purpose ;  he  was  made  to  Avait 
a  quarter  of  an  hour  until  a  new  rope  could  be  brought. 
He  had  been  accused  of  saying  that  if  the  people 
could  not  get  bread  they  might  eat  hay.  His  body 
Avas  cut  down  accordingly,  his  mouth  stuffed  with 
hay,  and  the  head  stuck  on  the  end  of  a  pike  and 
promenaded  through  the  streets.  Foulon  was  seventy- 
four  years  old,  and  could  not  offer  any  resistance,  but 
with  his  son-in-law  Berthier,  the  next  victim,  it  was 
different ;  he  fought  so  vigorously  that  he  had  nearly 
managed  to  escape,  when  a  pistol-shot  struck  him, 
and  he  fell  directly  beneath  the  lamp. 

On  April  29,  1792,  the  first  trial  of  the  guillotine 
was  made  on  the  Place  de  Greve,  a  common  criminal 
being  taken  for  the  experiment.  After  the  execution 
of  nine  officers,  emigres,  in  October  of  that  year,  the 
guillotine  was  moved  to  the  Carrousel,  and  stayed 
there  for  six  months  before  being  moved  to  the  Place 
de  la  Revolution,  where  it  had  already  been  set  up 
for  Louis  XVI. 

Probably,  though,  the  most  degrading  sights  ever 
witnessed  at  the  Greve  were  during  the  excesses 
committed  by  Chaumette  in  the  name  of  reason.  In 
the  Avinter  of  1793  the  crowd  warmed  itself  there  at 
bonfires  made  out  of  the  pillaged  woodwork  of  St. 
Jean  and  St.  Gervais.     The  chapel  of  the  Virgin  was 


464  PAKIS. 

used  as  a  dance-hall,  and  on  the  21st  of  November  a 
band  of  looters,  ayIio  had  been  going  through  the 
churches  of  the  Latin  Quarter,  returned  to  the  Place 
de  Greve  with  the  relics  of  Ste.  Genevieve,  which 
were  burned  there,  and  a  "  proces  verbal,"  prepared 
by  a  creature  named  Fayan,  sent  to  the  Pope.  Chau- 
mette,  in  the  face  of  Robespierre's  vigorous  disap- 
proval of  these  things,  failed  in  his  effort  to  convoke 
the  "  sections  "  and  obtain  their  support.  The  at- 
tempt ended  in  the  arrest  and  execution  of  the  nine- 
teen Hebertists.  Chaumette,  whose  hiding-place  was 
perfectly  well  known  by  the  Convention,  was  let  alone 
for  a  time,  in  order  to  give  the  faubourgs  a  chance  to 
make  some  demonstration  in  his  behalf.  Not  a  sec- 
tion rose  ;  and,  brought  before  the  Revolutionary  Tri- 
bunal, he  was  condemned  and  promptly  executed. 

To  treat  of  the  Bastille,  Ave  must  return  to  the  13th 
of  July,  1789.  Throughout  the  entire  day  the  guar- 
dians of  the  fortress  had  been  on  the  alert.  A  private 
message  from  Versailles  had  Avarned  the  Governor, 
M.  de  Launay,  that  something  was  to  be  attempted; 
he  had  therefore  closed  all  the  gates,  raised  the  draw- 
bridges, and  doubled  the  number  of  sentinels  ;  but  be- 
yond the  tocsins  rung  from  the  various  church  steeples, 
and  a  certain  ominous  murmur  rising  from  the  closely- 
packed  Quartier  de  St.  Antoine,  nothing  occurred. 
On  the  14th,  at  ten  o'clock  in  the  morning,  three  men 
Avearing  uniforms,  and  calling  themselves  deputies  of 
the  city,  but  having  nothing  to  shoAv  in  the  Avay  of  an 


REVOLUTION,  CONSULATE  AND  FIRST  EMPIRE.   465 

order,  appeared  at  the  outer  grating  and  demanded  to 
speak  with  the  Governor.     He  met  them  on  the  small 
drawbridge,  but  on  seeing  the  enormous  throng  of 
people  who  had  assembled,  withdrew  with  them  into 
the  fortress.     While  the  interview  was  going  on  the 
people  succeeded  in  gaining  the  outer  court ;  then  a 
real  deputy,  M.  de  la  Roziere,  arrived,  demanding,  in 
the  "  name  of  the  nation  and  the  country,"  that  the 
cannons  on  the  walls  of  the  Bastille  should  be  dis- 
mounted, "  so  as  to  reassure  the  people  of  Paris." 
M.  de  Launay  answered  that  it  was  not  in  his  power 
to  comply,  and  advised  la  Roziere  to  return  to  the 
Committee  of  Electors  and  assure  them  that  the  guns 
were  not  a  menace,  but  would  only  be  used  if  the 
Bastille  were  first  attacked.     The  crowd,  alarmed  at 
the  so-called  deputies'  long  absence,  now  grew  threat- 
ening.    A  demonstration  caused  the  outer  drawbridge 
to  be  raised  ;  then  the  attack  became  real.  At  a  critical 
moment  the  mob  was  reinforced  by  the  arrival  of  the 
bands  who  had  just  seized  the  arms  from  the  Hotel 
des  Invalides,  but  they  could  hardly  have  succeeded 
in  taking  the  great  fortress  had  not  the  garrison  de- 
serted the  Governor.     A  signal  was  made  from  the 
walls  by  one  of  the  officers,  and  in  a  very  few  moments 
the  inner  drawbridge  was  lowered.     A  number  of  the 
officers  and  men  were  shot  on  the  spot.    De  Launay, 
who  had  tried  to  blow  up  the  Bastille  when  he  found 
his  garrison  had  deserted  him,  and  de  Losme  were 
saved  by  Elie,  only,  as  we  have  seen  above,  to  be 

30 


466  PARIS. 

murdered,  the  one  on  the  steps  of  the  Hotel  de  Ville 
and  the  other  close  by,  while  the  Provost  of  the  Mer- 
chants, de  Flesselles,  accused  of  sendmg  word  to  de 
Launay  to  hold  out,  as  reinforcements  would  be  sent 
him,  Avas  shot  in  the  Place  de  Greve.  Some  of  the 
mob  left  at  the  Bastille  busied  themselves  in  releasing 
the  prisoners — only  seven  in  number  and  three  of 
those  insane.  They  were  carried  in  triumph  through 
the  streets,  dazed  and  uncomprehending,  while  the 
people  greeted  them  with  wild  rejoicings.  Others 
dismounted  the  guns  and  rolled  them  over  into  the 
moat,  and  already  some  were  hard  at  work  with  picks 
and  crowbars  demolishing  the  towers.  The  docu- 
ments and  registers  were  scattered  or  destroyed,  and 
everything  worth  taking  carried  off.* 

To  put  a  stop  to  all  this  the  Committee  of  Electors 
ordered  the  Bastille  to  be  cleared  of  every  one,  and 
appointed  a  commandant,  the  Sieur  Soules,  to  protect 
it  with  a  guard  of  thirty  or  forty  inhabitants  of  the 
Quartier.  Two  attempts  were  made  to  supplant  this 
guard.  In  the  first,  which  Avas  headed  by  a  young 
avocat — no  other  than  Danton — Soides  was  arrested, 
and  came  near  being  killed  in  the  streets.  At  last 
the  Assembly  of  Electors  decreed  the  immediate  de- 
struction of  "  this  monument  of  despotism  and  tyr- 
anny."    The  proclamation  was  made  in  all  the  quar- 

*  One  of  the  Electors  of  Paris,  who  managed  to  save  some  of 
the  papers,  deposited  them  safely  in  the  abbey  of  St.  Germain 
des  Pres. 


REVOLUTION,  CONSULATE  AND  FIRST  EMPIRE.    467 

ters  of  Paris  to  the  sound  of  trumpets,  and  in  the 
name  of  La  Fayette,  as  Commander-General  of  the 
National  Guard. 

Polloy,  one  of  the  "  Conquerors  of  the  Bastille,"  as 
they  called  themselves,  had  charge  of  the  work.  He 
had  eighty-three  models  made  out  of  stone  taken  from 
the  fortress,  and  presented  one  to  each  department, 
together  with  various  relics,  such  as  bullets,  bits  of 
iron,  keys,  and  so  forth.  By  the  time  the  first  anni- 
versary came  around  the  Bastille  was  razed  and  trees 
planted  on  the  lines  of  its  walls,  so  as  to  trace  a  sort 
of  ground  plan  of  the  building.  The  trees  were  called 
by  the  names  of  the  different  departments  of  France, 
an  obelisk  that  stood  in  the  centre  was  covered  with 
commemorative  inscriptions,  and  over  each  approach 
was  the  legend,  Ici  Ton  danse  ! 

In  the  following  year  Voltaire's  body  lay  here  in 
state  from  the  10th  to  the  11th  of  July,  when  it  was 
taken  to  the  Pantheon,  and  it  was  here  that  the  great 
fete  of  the  "  Unity  and  Indivisibility  of  the  Repub- 
lic "  was  celebrated  on  August  10,  1793,  the  enor- 
mous plaster  statue  of  the  Regeneration  occupying 
the  centre  of  the  Place. 

This  great  Place,  which  extended  far  beyond  what 
had  been  the  limits  of  the  Bastille,  Avas  for  many 
years  a  most  desolate  spot — bare,  wind-swept,  dusty 
and  muddy  by  turns.  Under  Napoleon  a  scheme  was 
set  on  foot  to  erect  a  fountain  there  in  the  form  of  a 
colossal  elephant,  to  be  made  out  of  guns  taken  in  the 


468  PARIS. 

Friedland  campaign.  The  model  was  made  and  the 
foundations  placed,  but  the  plan  was  never  carried 
out,  and  it  was  not  till  twenty  years  later  that  any- 
thing further  was  attempted  on  the  spot.* 

The  ancient  church  and  burial-ground  of  St.  Paul, 
reached  from  the  Bastille  by  following  the  Rue  St. 
Antoine  for  a  short  distance  and  then  turning  down 
the  Rue  St.  Paul,  were  suppressed  during  the  Revo- 
lution. Among  the  celebrated  persons  buried  there 
were  Rabelais  in  1553,  and  the  Man  with  the  Iron 
Mask  in  the  beginning  of  the  eighteenth  century. 
Almost  the  last  interment  was  that  of  the  four  skele- 
tons found  chained  in  a  dungeon  of  the  Bastille.  In 
1791  the  church,  being  without  clergy,  Avas  closed; 
it  was  subsequently  sold  as  national  property  and 
torn  doAvn,  the  new  proprietors  being  in  such  haste 
to  rebuild  that  they  did  not  stop  to  clear  away 
the  sepulchres  beneath.  Fifty  years  later  some  ex- 
cavations made  on  the  spot  brought  a  quantity  of 
human  bones  to  light,  as  well  as  a  number  of  wooden 
and  leaden  coffins,  still  intact. 

The  once  wealthy  and  popular  church  and  convent 
of  I'Ave  Maria  had  become  poor  and  obscure  by  the 
latter  part  of  the  eighteenth  century  ;  instead  of  a 
hundred  nuns  it  had  but  forty-nine,  it  was  deeply  in 
debt,  and  its  buildings  were  falling  into  ruins.     The 

*  It  is  in  this  model,  which  stood  for  many  years  in  a  comer 
of  the  Place,  that  Victor  Hugo  lodges  petit  Gavroche  in  Les 
Miserables. 


EE VOLUTION,  CONSULATE  AND  FIEST  EMPIRE.    469 

Commune  converted  it  into  a  barrack,  which  in  turn 
became  a  market,  whose  name  alone  now  recalls  the 
old  religious  establishment  of  the  Poor  Clares. 

Close  by,  the  church  of  the  Celestins,  W'hich  we 
have  seen  endowed  by  Charles  V.  and  enriched  Avith 
magnificent  works  of  art  by  the  Orleans  family,  was 
still  an  object  of  wonder  and  admiration  to  art  lovers 
in  the  eighteenth  century.  Among  the  innumerable 
sculptured  tombs  of  historic  interest  were  those  con- 
taining the  hearts  of  Francis  II.,  of  Henry  II.  and 
Catherine  de  Medicis,  of  Charles  IX.  and  his  brother, 
the  Due  d'Anjou,  and  of  the  Constable  Anne  de  Mont- 
morency. 

When  during  the  Revolution  the  mob  broke  into 
this  church,  it  was  the  Orleans  chapel  that  was  the 
especial  object  of  its  fury.  Everything  was  destroyed 
or  taken  away.  The  carved  wooden  bookcases  of 
the  convent  library  were  given  to  the  Bibliotheque 
Nationale,  and  their  contents  added  to  the  enormous 
collection  in  the  "  depot  of  books  from  suppressed 
convents." 

The  Celestin  convent  was  at  this  time  deserted, 
the  order  having  been  suppressed  some  ten  years 
before  the  Revolution.  When  the  buildings  were 
turned  into  barracks  the  church  was  left  standing, 
and  used  as  a  storehouse  and  stable  until  it  was  pulled 
down  in  1849.  Among  the  vast  number  of  leaden 
coffins  unearthed  at  that  time  was  one  Avhose  inscrip- 
tion showed  it  to  contain  the  remains  of  Anne  of 


470  PAEIS. 

Burgundy,  Duchess  of  Bedford,  and  daughter  of  Jean 
Sans  Peur.  The  statue  belonging  to  it  had  been  taken 
to  the  Versailles  Museum. 

We  spoke  in  the  last  chapter  of  the  prison  reforms 
instituted  by  Louis  XVI.  and  Necker,  when  most  of 
the  Chatelet  prisoners  were  taken  to  La  Force.  The 
Revolutionary  Government,  however,  reopened  the 
Chatelet  prisons,  and  they  were  the  scene  of  one  of 
the  most  horrible  of  the  September  massacres.  "  Two 
hundred  and  fourteen  prisoners  were  killed  at  the 
Grand  Chatelet ;  none  of  them  confined  for  political 
reasons.  Most  of  those  accused  of  manufacturing  or 
circulating  false  assignafs  (paper  money  of  the  Revo- 
lution) had  been  sent  there,  as  well  as  persons  Avho 
had  received  it  unwittingly  and  tried  to  pass  it  on. 
Of  these  was  M.  d'Espremenil's  brother-in-law  (who 
managed  to  escape).  .  .  .  He  told  me  that  as  he 
came  out  of  the  Chfitelet  ...  he  plunged  up  to  his 
knees  in  a  stream  of  blood.  .  .  ." 

Li  1802  most  of  the  Chatelet  buildings  were  torn 
down  to  make  room  for  an  open  Place  with  a  foun- 
tain, but  the  Morgue  was  not  moved  to  the  Marche 
Neuf  until  about  1807. 

Li  1791  Barrere  obtained  a  decree  from  the  As- 
sembly ordering  that  the  Louvre  should  be  the  resi- 
dence of  the  King,  that  it  should  be  connected  with 
the  Tuileries,  and  that  the  gallery  with  its  pictures 
and  statues  shoidd  become  a  "  museum  celebre." 
There  was  nothing  strikingly  original  in  any  of  these 


EEVOLUTION,  CONSULATE  AND  FIRST  EMPIRE.   471 

suggestions.  The  first  two  dated  from  Charles  V.  and 
Henry  IV.,  and  for  the  past  ten  years  Count  d'Angi- 
viller,  superintendent  of  the  buildings,  had  been  work- 
ing for  the  realization  of  the  last. 

Another  decree  of  August  of  the  same  year  gave 
to  all  artists  the  right  to  exhibit  in  the  Salon  of  the 
Louvre,  whether  they  belonged  to  the  Academy  of 
Painting  or  not ;  and  a  few  months  later  the  entire 
Palace  was  declared  devoted  to  "  the  study  of  the 
arts."  This  was  simply  throwing  open  the  doors  to 
a  mob  of  vandals,  every  dauber  claimed  the  right  of 
asylum  for  himself  and  his  family,  and  in  a  few  days 
the  Louvre  Avas  filled  from  garret  to  cellar  with  a  mob 
Avhich,  under  pretext  of  removing  all  traces  of  roy- 
alty, completely  sacked  it.  In  a  very  short  time  its 
condition  was  as  bad  as,  or  worse  than,  that  from  which 
we  have  seen  de  Marigny  extricate  it  with  so  much 
pains  and  labor. 

The  academies  were  definitely  suppressed  in  1793, 
but  they  had  really  ceased  to  exist  some  time  earlier. 
The  room  Avhich  had  been  formerly  set  aside  for  the 
use  of  the  Academy  of  Inscriptions,  with  its  rich  col- 
lection of  bronzes,  gobelins,  marble  busts  and  por- 
traits, was  completely  rifled,  as  was  the  room  of  the 
Academic  Frangaise,  except  for  its  registers,  happily 
secured  in  time  by  the  Abbe  Morellet. 

Little  shops  and  stalls  sprang  up  in  all  the  vesti- 
bules and  along  the  base  of  the  walls.  Mercier  tells 
of  the  strings  of  herrings  which  hung  along  the  side 


472  PAKIS. 

toward  the  Seine,  drying  in  the  sun.  In  the  east 
vestibule  was  a  great  market  for  engravings.  Oppo- 
site, on  the  Place  St.  Germain  I'Auxerrois,  Ange 
Pitou  established  the  "  theatre  Ambulant,"  from 
which  he  sang  those  royalistic  couplets  that  caused 
his  arrest  fifteen  different  times,  and  finally  sent  him 
into  three  years'  exile.* 

The  museum  of  the  Louvre  was  opened  on  August 
10,  1793,  the  anniversary  of  what  Barrere  calls  the 
"melancholy  day  of  August  10th."  In  September 
of  the  same  year  Marat's  bust  was  placed  in  front  of 
the  east  fa9ade  of  the  Louvre,  his  chief  association 
with  which  was  the  carrying  ofi'  of  four  complete  print- 
ing-presses from  the  royal  printing-bureau  to  use  for 
his  Journal  de  la  Bepuhlique,  successor  to  TAmi  du 
Feuple.  Anisson  Duperron,  the  director,  having  de- 
nounced this  theft  to  the  Assembly,  was  executed  in 
the  following  year.  This  bureau,  under  the  name  of 
the  Printing-House  of  the  Revolution,  was  moved 
elsewhere.  Pierre  Didot  asked  and  obtained  per- 
mission to  occupy  the  vacant  rooms  in  the  Louvre, 
so  as  to  continue  the  issue  of  his  great  edition  of  the 
classics.  The  Bacine  which  he  and  his  brother  Fir- 
min  got  out  in  1801-1805  has  been  pronounced  the 
"  masterpiece  of  typography  of  all  countries  and 
ages." 

The  exhibition  of  the  works  of  art  brought  from 

*  The  hero  of  Alexander  Dumas    book  is  not  identical  with 
this  personage. 


EE VOLUTION,  CONSULATE  AND  FIRST  EMPIRE.    473 

Italy,  held  in  the  ground  floor  of  the  Petite  Gallery, 
called  the  attention  of  the  entire  country  to  the  con- 
dition of  the  Louvre,  and  soon  after,  the  First  Consul 
began  to  lay  plans  for  carrying  out  the  project  of  so 
many  sovereigns  of  France — i.e.,  the  uniting  the 
Louvre  with  the  Tuileries.  The  Rue  du  Carrousel 
was  opened  in  1800  (though  not  completely  until  after 
the  demolition  of  the  Hotel  Brionne,  eight  years  later), 
and  the  Rue  de  Rivoli,  named  from  a  recent  victory 
of  the  Italian  campaign,  in  the  same  year.  A  pri- 
vate company  obtained  the  contract  for  an  iron  bridge 
to  cross  the  Seine  directly  opposite  the  southern  en- 
trance to  the  Louvre,  with  rights  of  toll  imtil  the  15th 
of  June,  1897.*  This  bridge,  resting  on  nine  iron 
arches,  was  opened  to  the  public  in  1804,  and  took 
its  name — Pont  des  Arts — from  the  Louvre,  called 
altogether  at  that  time  the  Palais  des  Arts. 

Two  months  after  he  was  proclaimed  Emperor, 
Napoleon  took  active  steps  towards  restoring  and 
completing  the  Louvre.  Against  the  advice  of  the 
expressly-appointed  commission,  he  decided  to  re- 
peat Perrault's  third  order  in  three  of  the  facades  of 
the  courtyard,  and  in  May,  1806,  in  order  that  the 
workmen  might  be  unhampered,  all  the  ''  artists " 
domiciled  in  the  Louvre  were  turned  out,  most  of 
them  being  given  some  indemnity.  They  had  had 
possession  for  twelve  years. 

Napoleon  I.  built  the  small  pavilion  on  the  north- 

*  This  was  bought  back  by  the  city  in  1 848. 


474  PAEIS. 

Avest  of  the  Louvre,  but  the  plan  of  Percicr  and  Fon- 
taine for  connectmg  the  palace  with  the  Tuileries, 
though   adopted,  was  never  carried  out. 

To  return  to  the  year  1789.  The  States-General 
had  met  at  Versailles  in  May,  and  on  the  17th  of 
June  the  tiers  etat  constituted  itself  into  the  National 
Assembly  ;  then  followed  the  oath  of  the  tennis-court 
and  the  other  events  that  culminated  in  the  riotous 
demonstrations  of  the  12th  of  July,  the  taking  of 
the  Bastille,  and,  iinally,  the  forced  removal  of  the 
royal  family  from  Versailles  to  the  Tuileries  on  the 
6th  of  October. 

The  palace  had  been  practically  unoccupied  for 
fifty-seven  years,  and  when  the  strange  procession 
arrived  towards  nine  o'clock  at  night  nothing  was 
ready  ;  even  the  commonest  necessities  were  want- 
ing. "  Folding-beds  were  put  up,"  writes  an  eye- 
witness, "  and  they  passed  a  very  bad  night." 

The  next  day  the  royal  furniture  was  brought  from 
Versailles,  and  the  King  established  himself  in  what 
had  once  been  the  Dauphin's  apartments  ;  the  Queen 
and  her  children  were  lodged  close  by.  The  PaviUon 
de  Flore  in  the  south  aisle  was  occupied  by  Mme.  de 
Lamballe  and  Mme.  Elizabeth. 

The  ancient  '^  parterre  de  Mademoiselle  "  had  long 
since  given  place  to  the  three  courtyards,  called 
JRoijalCj  (les  Princes  and  dcs  Suisses,  separated  from 
one  another  by  low  buildings,  whei'e  troops  and  horses 
were  lodged ;  three  gates  gave  access  to  these  courts 


KEVOLUTION,  CONSULATE  AND  FIRST  EMPIRE.    475 

from  the  Place  du  Carrousel.  The  garden,  protected 
by  terraces  and  the  draAvbridge  on  the  south  and 
west,  on  the  north  had  only  an  ordinary  wall.  It 
could  be  readily  entered  from  the  gardens  of  the  two 
convents  and  the  private  houses  on  the  Rue  St. 
Honore,  from  the  passage  des  Feuillants,  and  from 
the  3Ian('gc,  and  no  steps  were  taken  to  put  it  in  a 
state  of  defence,  the  necessity  not  seeming  to  have 
occurred  to  any  one. 

The  Assembly,  after  looking  about  for  a  suitable 
place  to  hold  its  meetings,  finally  established  itself  in 
the  Manege — riding-school — lying  north  of  the  Tuil- 
eries  garden,  and  separated  from  the  Feuillant  con- 
vent only  by  a  narrow  passage-way.  It  lay  directly 
in  the  line  of  the  present  Rue  de  Rivoli  and  the  south 
end  of  the  Rue  Castiglione — and  the  site  of  the  Feuil- 
lant convent  is  covered  to-day  by  the  block  of  build- 
ings standing  east  of  the  Rue  Castiglione,  and  di- 
vided in  two  by  the  Rue  du  Mont  Thabor.  The  Feuil- 
lant Club,  born  of  a  split  in  that  of  the  Jacobin,  num- 
bered La  Fayette,  Mirabeau,  Sieyes,  Bailly,  and 
other  friends  of  a  constitutional  monarchy  among  its 
members.  It  was  broken  up  by  the  events  of  Au- 
gust 10th. 

The  Constituent  Assembly  held  its  meetings  in  the 
riding-school  for  twenty-two  months,  the  King  being 
present  on  only  three  occasions:  on  February  4,  1790, 
to  recognize  the  rights  of  man  and  citizens ;  on  Sep- 
tember 14,  1791,  to  take  the  oath  of  the  Constitution; 


476  PARIS. 

on  the  30th  of  the  same  month,  to  close  the  Assem- 
bly— the  attempted  flight  of  the  royal  family  had 
occurred  in  the  preceding  June. 

A  small  engraving  of  the  time  shows  the  little 
group  of  fugitives  making  their  way  towards  the  car- 
riage waiting  in  the  Marigny  gateway  (directly  south 
of  the  present  arc  de  Triomphe  du  Carrousel).  The 
King  leads,  carrying  a  lantern,  folloAved  by  one  of  the 
bodyguard  with  the  Dauphin  in  his  arms  ;  then  comes 
the  Queen,  Madame  Elizabeth,  Mademoiselle  and 
Mme.  de  Tourzel.  The  Princess  of  Lamballe  had  gone 
on  ahead,  and  was  to  meet  them  at  Montmedy.  In  con- 
trast to  this  silent  departure  was  the  tumultuous  re- 
turn on  the  25th,  witnessed  by  an  enormous  throng, 
which  filled  every  corner  of  the  Place  Louis  XV.  and 
the  Champs  Elysees,  and  swarmed  over  the  trees  and 
roofs  of  the  surrounding  buildings. 

When  the  Constitution  Avas  adopted  in  September 
the  King  gave  a  great  fete  in  the  Tuileries  garden. 
He  and  his  family  were  greeted  with  enthusiasm  and 
vivats,  and  a  few  weeks  later  the  new  Legislative 
Assembly  substituted  "  roi  des  Fran9ais  "  for  "  roi  de 
France,"  and  gave  the  King  an  arm-chair  like  that 
occupied  by  the  President,  when  he  came  to  open  its 
sessions.  On  the  20th  of  the  June  following  the 
mob  forced  an  entrance  into  the  Tuileries  to  the  very 
presence  of  the  King.  Louis  XVI.  seems  on  this 
occasion  to  have  behaved  with  tact  and  firmness,  and 
the  good  humor  of  the  crowd  amounted  almost  to  en- 


EEVOLUTION,  CONSULATE  AND  FIRST  EMPIRE.    477 

thusiasm  when,  like  the  incident  of  the  Dauphin  and 
the  parti-colored  cap  of  Etienne  Marcel,  he  placed  on 
his  head  the  "  bonnet  rouge."  The  invasion  of  the 
palace  less  than  two  months  later  (August  10th)  ended 
in  the  massacre  of  the  Swiss  Guards  and  the  sacking 
of  the  Tuileries,  Avhen  the  royal  family,  yielding  to 
the  solicitations  of  Roederer,  had  crossed  the  garden 
and  taken  refuge  with  the  National  Assembly.  After 
spending  forty-eight  hours  in  a  tiny  room  behind  the 
president's  chair,  they  were  removed  under  arrest  to 
the  Temple. 

The  new  Assembly  was  holding  its  sessions  as 
Avell  in  the  riding-school,  which  was  now  supplied 
with  furniture  and  carpets  from  the  Tuileries,  whose 
golden  fleurs-de-lis  proclaimed  their  origin  (some  of 
the  pieces  bore  the  royal  arms).  It  was  here  that 
the  trial  of  the  King  took  place.  Beginning  on  the 
11th  of  December  (1793),  it  terminated  on  the  17th 
of  January,  a  majority  of  twenty-five  voting  for  sen- 
tence of  death. 

In  the  following  May  the  Convention  had  the  Tuil- 
eries Theatre  rearranged  and  freshly  decorated,  and 
held  its  meetings  there.  Marat's  funeral  w^as  celebrated 
at  the  palace,  and  a  wooden  obehsk  placed  in  the 
Carrousel  in  his  liouor.  The  fete  of  '^  the  Supreme 
Being"  was  held  in  the  Tuileries  garden  on  June  8, 
1794  (20  Prarial),  Robespierre  delivering  the  oration 
and  acting  as  high  priest.  It  was  just  seven  weeks 
prior  to  his  fall. 


478  PARIS. 

Between  the  Tuileries  and  tlic  Champs  Elysees 
was  the  great  Place  Lonis  XV.,  hiid  ont  by  Gabriel 
as  a  setting  for  the  equestrian  statue  of  that  King, 
voted  by  tlie  city  of  Paris  on  his  recovery  at  Metz. 
During  the  Revokition  this  statue  was  melted  into 
sou  pieces  and  the  guillotine  set  up  in  its  stead,  the 
square  being  rechristened  Place  de  la  Revolution. 
Here,  beside  a  multitude  of  less  well  known  persons, 
were  executed:  The  King  on  January  21,  1793 ; 
Charlotte  Corday  in  the  following  July  ;  the  Giron- 
dists on  October  2d  and  the  Queen  on  October 
16th ;  Philippe  Egalite  on  November  16th  :  the  He- 
bertists  in  March,  '94 ;  the  Dantonists  in  April ; 
Mme.  Elizabeth  on  May  12th  ;  and  finally,  in  July, 
Robespierre,  Saint  Just,  Couthon,  Simon,  and  the 
other  leaders  of  the  Terror. 

The  Place  was  given  its  present  name  under  the 
Directory,  and  again  called  Louis  XV.  by  the  Resto- 
ration. The  Pont  de  la  Concorde  is  the  work  of  Per- 
ronet,  and  was  built  between  1787  and  1793.  The 
name  of  the  Place  Louis  le  Grand,  lying  to  the  north- 
east, was  changed  in  1793  to  Place  des  Piques,  and 
again,  under  the  Directory,  to  Place  Vendome. 
Louis  XIV. 's  statue  having  been  melted  down  by  the 
Convention,  Napoleon  determined  in  1806  to  erect  a 
column  in  its  stead.  This  column  of  the  Grand 
Army,  or  Vendome  as  it  is  always  called,  was  modelled 
after  Trajan's  column  in  Rome,  and  cast  from  twelve 
hundred  cannon  taken  from  Russia  and  Austria      It 


RE\'OLUTIOX,  CONSULATE  AND  FIRST  EMPIRE.    479 

was  crowned  by  a  statue  of  the  Emperor  by  Chaudet. 
A  few  weeks  after  the  return  of  the  Bourbons  this 
statue  Avas  taken  down,  broken  in  pieces,  and  used 
for  the  new  statue  of  Henry  IV.  on  the  Pont  Neuf, 
and  for  eighteen  years  a  white  flag  surmounted  the 
cohuun  of  the  Grand  Army. 

In  October,  1795,  when  the  Royalists,  backed  by 
some  of  the  sections  of  Paris,  prepared  to  resist  the 
new  pLan  of  government,  Barras  directed  Bonaparte, 
then  a  general  of  brigade,  to  conduct  the  movements 
of  the  troops.  The  sections  took  their  stand  in  the 
Rue  St.  Honore,  in  front  of  the  Church  of  St.  Roch, 
and  a  terrific  battle  ensued,  resulting  in  their  com- 
plete rout  and  the  promotion  of  Bonaparte,  first  to  the 
rank  of  second  in  command,  and  later,  on  the  retire- 
ment of  Barras,  to  be  commander-in-chief.  The 
church,  Avhich  is  chiefly  remarkable  for  this  associa- 
tion with  the  Jour  des  Sections,  was  built  by  Le  Mer- 
cier  for  Louis  XIV.,  the  portico  being  added  in  1736 
by  De  Cotte.  Bossuet,  who  died  near  by  in  the  Rue 
Ste.  Anne,  lay  there  in  state  before  being  taken  to 
Meaux  for  burial. 

The  government  was  now  in  the  hands  of  the 
Council  of  Ancients,  the  Council  of  Five  Hundred 
and  the  Directoire  (the  Convention  having  closed  its 
memorable  session  of  upwards  of  three  years,  after 
the  Jour  des  Sections).  On  November  9,  1799,  the 
Council  of  Ancients  announced  its  immediate  re- 
moval to  St.  Cloud,  where  General  Bonaparte  was  to 


480  PAEIS. 

defend  the  seat  of  national  representation  ;  the  gen- 
eral, and  "  the  warriors  who  accompanied  him,"  then 
took  oath  faithfully  to  preserve  the  Republic,  and  the 
session  was  adjourned,  and  it  was  many  years  before 
the  old  hall  of  the  Convention  was  again  made  use 
of.  Three  months  later,  when  the  First  Consul  ar- 
rived in  the  Carrousel,  on  his  way  to  take  up  his 
residence  in  the  Tuileries,  the  walls  were  still  pla- 
carded with  such  notices  as  royalty  lias  been  abolished 
in  France  never  to  return^  while  liberty-trees  and  bul- 
let-holes recalled  the  10th  of  August. 

After  reviewing  the  troops  Bonaparte  went  through 
the  palace  apportioning  out  the  different  suites. 
"  Well,  Bourrienne,"  said  he  to  his  secretary,  "  here 
we  are  at  the  Tuileries ;  now  the  thing  is  to  stay." 
The  Pavilion  de  Flore  was  given  to  Lebrun,  but 
Cambaceres  astutely  declined  to  establish  himself  in 
the  palace.  "  I  think  it  is  a  mistake,"  said  he  to  his 
colleague,  "  for  us  to  come  here.  Before  very  long 
the  General  will  want  to  have  the  Tuileries  to  him- 
self, and  then  we  shall  have  to  get  out ;  I  had  rather 
never  go  in." 

The  attempt  made  to  blow  up  the  First  Consul  on 
the  3  Nivose,  IX.  (December  24,  1800)  failed  in  its 
object,  but  the  destruction  of  forty-six  houses  in  the 
neighborhood  of  the  Carrousel  opened  the  way  to  im- 
proving the  approach  to  the  Tuileries,  and  suggested 
to  Napoleon  the  often-projected  plan  of  uniting  it 
with  the  Louvre,  a  plan  which  he,  like  his  predeces- 


KEVOLUTION,  CONSULATE  AND  FIRST  EMPIRE.    481 

sors,  was  not  able  to  carry  out.  In  November,  1804, 
Pius  VII.  arrived  in  Paris,  and  was  lodged  in  the 
Pavilion  de  Flore.  The  Emperor's  secretly-per- 
formed religious  marriage  with  Josephine  took  place 
in  the  Tuileries  chapel  on  December  1st,  followed 
the  next  day  by  the  magnificent  coronation  ceremony 
at  Notre  Dame. 

Almost  all  accomplished  by  Napoleon  at  the  Tuil- 
eries Avas  done  between  1805  and  1813 — the  chapel, 
theatre  and  council  chamber,  built  on  the  site  of  the 
old  hall  of  the  Convention,  the  Arc  de  Triomphe  of 
the  Carrousel,  and  the  continuation  of  the  north 
gallery,  designed  to  connect  it  Avith  the  Louvre. 
It  was  also  during  this  period  that  those  fetes,  the 
most  magnificent  Paris  has  ever  seen,  were  held 
there.  The  ceremony  of  Josephine's  divorce  was 
performed  in  the  Emperor's  cabinet  in  December, 
1809,  and  in  the  following  April  that  of  his  mar- 
riage with  Maria  Louisa  in  the  Grand  Salon  of  the 
Louvre. 

The  fete  on  March  20,  1811,  to  celebrate  the  birth 
of  the  King  of  Rome,  in  the  Tuileries  was  the  last 
great  day  of  the  Empire,  Avhich  ended  three  years 
later  with  tlie  flight  of  the  Empress  and  her  child, 
and  the  arrival  at  the  palace  on  April  12,  1814,  of 
the  Comte  d'Artois,  a  younger  brother  of  Louis  XVI. 
On  alighting  from  his  carriage  in  front  of  the  Pavil- 
ion de  I'Horloge  he  is  described  as  being  so  over- 
powered by  the  rush  of  recollections  that  his  attend- 

31 


482  PAEIS. 

ants  were  obliged  to  support  liim  into  the  palace  of 
his  fathers. 

The  months  preceding  Napoleon's  escape  from 
Elba,  the  Hundred  Days,  and  the  reigns  of  Louis 
XVIII.  and  Charles  X.,  were  too  crowded  with  events 
of  political  importance  to  allow  leisure  for  building, 
and  the  Tuileries  remained  pretty  much  as  Napoleon 
left  it  until  the  Revolution  of  1830.  In  a  decree  of 
February  18,  1806,  he  had  provided  for  the  erection 
of  a  triumphal  arch,  to  be  placed  at  the  rond-point 
de  I'Etoile  (so-called  from  the  figure  made  by  the 
branching  out  of  eleven  avenues  from  it),  and  to  be 
commemorative  of  the  victories  of  the  French  army. 
The  corner-stone  was  laid  on  August  15th  of  the 
same  year,  the  Emperor's  birthday,  under  the  direc- 
tion of  the  architect  Chalgrin.  On  his  death  five 
years  later  he  was  succeeded  by  Goust,  but  the  work 
was  arrested  by  the  events  of  1814,  and  not  seriously 
taken  up  again  until  the  reign  of  Louis-Philippe. 

Another  great  work  undertaken  by  the  Empire 
was  the  building  of  the  church  of  the  Madeleine. 
Letters-patent,  signed  by  Louis  XV.  in  1763,  pro- 
vide for  a  large  new  church  to  be  built  for  the  ac- 
commodation of  the  rapidly-increasing  population  of 
the  western  quartiers,  these  having  outgrown  the 
little  church  of  la  Madeleine  de  la  Ville  I'Eveque. 
Contant  d'lvry,  as  architect,  was  soon  replaced 
by  Couture,  and  on  plans  of  his,  the  work  had  pro- 
gressed   so    far  that    the   columns  were    two-thirds 


REVOLUTION,  CONSULATE  AND  FIRST  EMPIRE.    483 

of  their  projected  height  when  the  Revohition  put  a 
stop  to  everything.  In  1806  it  was  proposed  to 
finish  the  building,  and  various  suggestions  Avere 
made  for  its  destination ;  it  could  be  used  for  a  pub- 
lic library,  or  a  Pantheon,  like  that  at  Rome,  but  the 
Emperor  settled  the  question  by  deciding  that  it 
should  be  a  Temple  of  Glory  ;  a  gift  from  himself  to 
the  soldiers  of  the  Grand  Army.  He  selected  among 
the  one  hundred  and  twenty-seven  plans  proposed 
that  by  Pierre  Vignon,  and  Gout  arc's  work  was  com- 
pletely demolished,  even  to  the  foundations,  which 
were  now  dug  to  a  depth  of  twenty  feet,  but  his  plan 
for  the  facade  was  preserved.  Then  came  1814,  and 
it  was  some  years  before  the  building,  restored  to  its 
original  destination,  was  taken  up  again.  It  was 
finished  in  1842. 

We  will  now  turn  to  the  Palais  Royal,  in  a  sense 
the  birthplace  of  the  Revolution,  for  the  action  of 
the  Prince  in  refusing  to  allow  the  police  to  enter 
"  Chez  lui"  made  it  the  natural  meeting-place  of  the 
Revolutionists. 

The  Duke  of  Orleans,  nearly  ruined  in  building 
the  new  galleries,  was  obliged  to  sell  them  to  private 
individuals  as  soon  as  they  were  finished.  Among 
the  new  proprietors  was  Jousserand,  who  moved  his 
cafe  (Foy)  down  from  the  Rue  de  Richelieu  into  the 
garden  itself.  It  was  in  front  of  this  cafe  that  Camille 
Desmoulins  appeared  on  July  12,  1789,  covered  with 
dust,  and  mounting  a  table  announced  to  the  people 


484  PAEIS. 

who  thronged  around  him  that  Necker  had  been  dis- 
missed and  that  they  must  at  once  fly  to  arms.  As 
he  distributed  leaves  from  the  tree  over  his  head,  to 
be  worn  as  cockades,  the  crowd  throughout  the  gar- 
den began  stripping  the  trees  and  taking  up  the  cry, 
"  Aux  amies !"  Just  then  Desmoulins  recognized 
some  squads  of  police  who  had  managed  to  introduce 
themselves  into  the  enclosure  and  were  trying  to  sur- 
round him  ;  pulling  a  pair  of  pistols  from  his  pocket 
he  pointed  them  out,  and  in  a  moment  the  crowd  had 
seized  and  carried  them  off.  The  tumultuous  scenes 
that  followed  have  been  already  alluded  to  in  this 
chapter. 

The  Palais  Royal  continued  to  be  a  central  rally- 
ing-point  for  all  parties,  its  cafes  serving  in  lieu  of 
clubs.  The  Cafe  Foy  in  particular  was  claimed  first 
by  one  and  then  by  another;  in  possession  of  the  Mon- 
archists at  night,  it  would  be  recaptured  by  the  Ja- 
cobins in  the  morning.  Finally,  a  bonnet  de  liberie 
fastened  against  the  Avall,  with  the  intimation  that 
Jousserand's  head  would  fall  when  it  did,  settled  the 
politics  of  the  cafe  ;  the  royalists  came  there  no  more. 

It  was  in  a  little  restaurant  in  the  cellar  of  No. 
113  Gallerie  de  Valois  that  Le  Pelletier  de  Saint  Far- 
geau  tried  to  hide  on  the  eve  of  the  execution  of 
Louis  XVI.  He  had  been  supposed  to  be  of  the 
King's  party  until  the  moment  when  his  cowardly 
vote  was  cast.  Recognized  by  a  former  member  of 
the  bodyguard,  as  he  sat  at  one  of  the  small  tables 


REVOLUTION,  CONSULATE  AND  FIEST  EMPIRE.    485 

eating  his  dinner,  he  was  stabbed,  and  died  without 
speaking.  The  murderer,  whose  name  was  Paris,  es- 
caped. He  had  come  to  the  Palais  Rojal  with  the 
intention  of  assassinating  the  Duke  of  Orleans,  who, 
however,  gained  less  than  three  months  more  of  life 
by  escaping  then.  Arrested  on  April  4th  of  the  same 
year,  while  dining  in  company  with  M.  de  Monville, 
Philippe  Egalite  was  taken  to  the  Abbaye,  and  only 
saw  the  Palais  Royal  once  again,  when  the  cart  that 
was  bearing  him  to  the  guillotine  halted  in  front  of  it. 

Every  fluctuation  of  popular  feeling  found  its  ex- 
pression in  the  Palais  Royal.  There  Duval  d'Espre- 
menil  was  nearly  killed  by  the  frantic  Jacobins,  the 
Pope  and  La  Fayette  were  both  burned  there  in 
effigy,  and  later  the  Jacobin  club  itself,  when  the 
people  had  grown  less  afraid  of  it,  in  the  guise  of  a 
mannikin  with  ''  Carmagnole  "  and  "  bonnet  rouge." 
So  pestilential  did  the  Palais  Royal  become  at  times, 
from  the  standpoint  of  order  and  decency,  that  even 
Chaumette  suggested  closing  it  to  the  public  in  1793. 
At  another  time  it  was  proposed  to  turn  it  into  a 
barrack,  and,  again,  to  cut  four  streets  through  it. 
None  of  these  ideas  were  carried  out ;  and,  as  a  fact, 
the  buildings  that  surround  the  garden  of  the  Palais 
Royal  to-day  are  very  much  the  same  as  in  Philippe 
Egalite's  time. 

During  all  these  scenes  of  tumult  and  outrage  a 
number  of  book-stores  gained  a  peaceable  renown 
within  the  Palais  Royal  precincts.    Probably  the  best 


486  PAEIS. 

known  of  these  belonged  to  the  publisher  Jean  Gabriel 
Dentu,  Avho  established  himself  in  the  wooden  gallery 
about  the  year  1792.  His  shop  became  the  resort 
of  the  literary  men  of  the  day.  The  Journal  des 
Dames  was  published  there,  and  later,  in  1819,  he 
founded  the  Drapeau  Blanc  in  conjunction  with  Mar- 
tinville.  He  was  succeeded  by  his  son,  Gabriel 
Andre,  and  his  grandson,  Edouard,  well-known  to  the 
present  generation  of  litterateurs. 

From  the  neighboring  quartier  des  Halles  poured 
forth  that  wild  mob  of  October  5,  1789,  that  returned 
the  next  day  to  Paris,  triumphant  and  horrible,  bring- 
ing with  it  "  le  boulanger,  la  boulangere,  et  le  pitit 
mitron."  The  women  of  this  quartier  continued  to 
play  a  conspicuous  part  in  the  Revolution,  as  mem- 
bers of  the  famous  tricoteuses  of  the  Faubourg  St. 
Antoine  and  the  woman's  club  of  the  Rue  Maucon- 
seil,  and  of  that  other  club  which  held  its  meetings 
in  the  parish  church  of  St.  Eustache.  It  was  in  this 
church  that  the  Feast  of  Reason  was  celebrated  in 
1793  on  almost  as  great  a  scale  as  at  Notre  Dame, 
tables  laden  with  food  and  drink  being  placed  around 
the  choir,  and  the  half-intoxicated,  wholly  distraught 
crowd  dancing  madly  outside  around  a  great  bonfire 
made  of  stalls,  balustrades  and  carvings  pillaged  from 
the  building ;  most  of  the  furnishings  of  the  church 
had,  however,  been  saved  and  sent  to  the  Petits-Au- 
gustins  Museum.  The  church  was  reopened  for  di- 
vine service  in  June,  1795,  but  for  some  time  was 


EEVOLUTION,  CONSULATE  AND  FIRST  EMPIRE.    487 

also  used  for  the  meetings  of  the  Municipal  Council- 
lors. By  180-4,  however,  it  had  resumed  much  of  its 
former  aspect,  and  when  Pius  VII.,  who  had  come  to 
Paris  to  crown  Napoleon  Emperor,  went  there  to 
bless  a  statue  of  the  Virgin,  nothing  Avas  wanting  to 
complete  the  dignity  and  richness  of  the  ceremony. 

For  six  weeks  after  their  arrest,  in  August,  '92, 
the  members  of  the  royal  family  were  confined  to- 
gether in  the  small,  square  tower  of  the  Temple, 
the  large  tower  meantime  being  made  ready  for  the 
King.  All  adjoining  buildings  were  torn  down,  even 
the  nearer  trees  were  felled,  the  wall  of  the  enclosure 
was  raised,  and  as  far  as  possible  all  windows  over- 
looking it  were  walled  up. 

Here  the  King,  now  cut  off  from  his  family,  spent 
the  last  months  of  his  life.  He  was  allowed  to  see 
his  wife  and  children  and  Madame  Elizabeth  on  the 
eve  of  his  execution  (January  21,  '93),  and  to  re- 
ceive the  sacrament  early  in  the  morning,  the  sacred 
vessels  being  hastily  brought  in  the  night  from  the 
neighboring  Capucin  convent  in  the  Marais. 

The  Princess  de  Lamballe  had  long  since  been 
removed  to  La  Force,  where  she  was  one  of  the 
victims  of  the  September  massacres  of  '92.  Marie 
Antoinette  was  sent  to  the  Conciergerie  in  the  fol- 
lowing August,  and  in  May,  1794,  Madame  Eliza- 
beth was  taken  from  the  Temple,  and,  accused  with 
twenty-four  others  of  conspiring  against  France, 
executed  within  a  fortnight.     The  Dauphin,  whose 


488  PARIS. 

health  had  been  completely  shattered  by  the  brutal- 
ities of  the  man  Simon  and  his  wife,  lived  for  ten 
months  after  the  9th  Thermidor  had  introduced  a 
more  humane  system  into  the  prisons,  and  died  in 
the  room  in  the  great  tower  previously  occupied  by 
his  father.  Madame  Royale,  the  only  one  of  the 
original  five  to  regain  her  Hberty,  was  taken  to  Bcile 
in  December,  1795,  and  exchanged  for  some  French 
prisoners  held  by  Austria.  She  had  passed  over  three 
years  in  the  Temple.  She  afterwards  married  her 
first  cousin,  Louis,  Duke  of  Angoulemc,  eldest  son 
of  Charles  X. 

The  Temple  tower  was  used  as  a  state  prison  until 
Napoleon,  uneasy  at  the  increasing  number  of  pil- 
grimages of  which  it  was  the  object,  yielded  to 
Fouche's  wishes  and  had  it  torn  down.  The  Rotunda, 
built  in  1781,  was  used  as  an  old  clothes  fair,  a  sort 
of  adjunct  to  the  Marche  du  Temple. 

The  entire  Quartier  du  Temple  underwent  a  change 
during  the  Revolution.  Owing  to  the  preponderance 
of  private  dwellings  and  religious  establishments,  it 
had  been  hitherto  one  of  the  quietest,  least  bustling 
corners  of  Paris.  Now  its  hotels  were  occupied  for 
the  most  part  by  offices  connected  with  the  govern- 
ment, while  the  decree  of  1792  closed  churches  and 
convents  alike,  driving  the  inmates  forth  to  get  a  liv- 
ing as  best  they  could. 

After  the  attack  on  the  Tuileries  of  August  10, 
1792,  the  prisons  of  Paris  overflowed  with  men  and 


REVOLUTION,  CONSULATE  AND  FIRST  EMPIRE.   489 

women  charged  with  being  accomplices  in  what  was 
called  the  "  Conspiracy  of  the  Court."  The  Sep- 
tember massacre  began  at  La  Force  at  eight  o'clock 
in  the  morning.  A  Commissary  sent  by  the  Com- 
mune to  liberate  the  ladies  of  the  court,  either 
purposely  or  through  oversight  failed  to  include 
Madame  de  Lamballe,  avIio,  though  she  escaped  that 
day,  Avas  interrogated  by  Hebert  and  Lhuillier  the  next 
morning  and  condemned.  An  effort  made  to  save 
her  as  she  left  the  prison  failed,  and  she  was  mur- 
dered in  a  narrow  alleyway,  between  the  Rue  du  roi 
de  Sicile  and  Rue  St.  Antoine.  The  body  was  hacked 
and  insulted,  and  the  head,  stuck  on  a  pike,  carried 
through  the  streets  and  to  the  Temple,  to  be  exhibited 
to  Marie  Antoinette.  From  then  till  the  9th  Thermidor 
La  Force  was  used  entirely  as  a  state  prison,  and 
rapidly  became  as  unhealthy,  as  overcrowded  and  as 
horrible  as  the  worst  prisons  of  the  old  regime. 

The  great  Hotel  de  Soubise  and  the  adjoining 
Hotel  de  Strasbourg,  left  vacant  after  the  death  in 
1787  of  the  Marechal  de  Soubise,  and  the  departure 
of  the  Cardinal  de  Rohan  to  a  safer  part  of  his  dio- 
cese, were  first  used  by  the  Revolutionists  as  a  depot 
for  gunpowder  and  then  for  barracks.  Under  Napo- 
leon they  were  devoted  to  their  present  use,  i.e.,  a 
museum  of  archives. 

We  will  now  cross  over  to  the  Cite  and  see  what 
marks  the  Revolutionary  period  set  upon  the  cradle 
of  the  great  Capital. 


490  PARIS. 

The  thirty  hours'  session  of  the  Parliament,  that 
ended  in  the  arrest  of  d'Espremenil  and  de  Monsa- 
bert,  was  held,  of  course,  in  the  Grand'  Chambre  of 
the  Palais;  that  was  in  May,  1787,  and  from  then 
on  the  Revolutionary  movement  steadily  gained 
ground  in  the  Palais  de  la  Cite,  until  it  became  in  a 
sense  its  headquarters,  co-operating  with  and  strength- 
ening the  Hotel  de  Ville. 

On  the  11th  of  August,  1792,  the  royal  statues 
were  everywhere  thrown  down,  the  bronze  one  of 
Henry  IV.,  on  the  Pont  Neuf,  was  spared  for  twenty- 
four  hours,  when  some  one  in  the  Assembly  having 
announced  that  the  Bearnais  was  not  a  "  Constitu- 
tional King,"  his  statue  followed  the  others.  The 
"  Samaratine "  went  because  it  was  too  suggestive 
of  the  Bible,  and  the  chimes,  moreover,  did  not  play 
airs  sufficiently  patriotic  in  character. 

The  Parliament  was  suppressed  by  an  act  of  As- 
sembly in  1790,  and  the  hotel  of  the  First  President 
given  to  the  "  Mayor  of  Paris ;"  there  was  also  es- 
tablished there  later  that  terrible  Comite  de  Surveil- 
lance of  the  Commune,  replaced  in  1800  by  the  Pre- 
fecture of  Police.  The  Tribunal  of  Executioners,  at 
the  time  of  the  September  massacres,  held  its  meet- 
ings in  the  Cour  du  Mai,  at  the  foot  of  the  great 
stair,  and  near  the  arcade  on  the  right  as  you  ascend. 
The  murders  went  on  for  twenty-four  hours,  even  in 
the  courtyards  and  corridors  of  the  Palais.  Thirty- 
six  men  only  escaped,  common  criminals  of  the  worst 


REVOLUTION,  CONSULATE  AND  FIEST  EMPIRE.    491 

class ;  but  all  the  women  but  one  (she  had  killed 
a  member  of  the  guard)  were  spared  on  condi- 
tion that  they  would  devote  themselves  to  the 
cause  ;  they  did  so  by  joining  the  company  of  the 
"  tricoteuses." 

The  Revolutionary  Tribunal,  formed  on  the  10th 
of  March,  1793,  took  possession  of  the  Grand'  Cham- 
bre  the  same  day,  and  lost  no  time  in  ordering  the 
removal  of  the  hangings  decorated  with  "  unconsti- 
tutional coats  of  arms"  and  the  substitution  of  "more 
analogous  tapestries  ;"  the  hall  took  the  name  of  Salle 
de  I'Egalite.  Later,  when  the  enormous  number  of 
prisoners  made  it  impossible  for  the  Tribunal  to  get 
through  its  work  unaided,  a  branch  was  established 
in  the  Salle  St.  Louis,  called  SaJle  de  la  Llhcrte.  It 
was  there  that  Danton  was  tried  and  condemned,  and 
that  he  defended  himself  with  such  fury  that  his  voice, 
thundering  through  the  open  windows,  reached  and 
strangely  moved  the  crowds  gathered  on  the  Quai  de 
la  Ferraille,  across  the  river. 

Before  the  grotesquely-costumed  Tribunal  of  the 
Grand'  Chambre  there  appeared  in  turn  Charlotte 
Corday,  the  Queen,  the  Girondins,  Madame  Roland, 
and  hundreds  of  others.  The  sittings  were  so  pro- 
longed that  Fouquier  on  coming  out  of  them  could 
sometimes  hardly  drag  himself  to  the  pallet  he  had 
had  put  up  for  himself  in  a  cabinet  close  to  the  Con- 
ciergerie  ;  and  so  imbued  was  his  mind  with  his  fright- 
ful task  that  one  day  while  crossing  the  Pont  Neuf 


492  PARIS. 

with  Seran  he  suddenly  paused  and  began  to  sway, 
declaring  that  the  Seine  had  turned  to  blood. 

The  first  cell  occupied  by  Marie  Antoinette  was 
the  old  Council  chamber  of  the  Conciergerie,  but 
after  the  plot  called  the  "  affair  of  the  Carnation " 
she  was  removed  (September  11th)  to  the  one  de- 
scribed in  the  Diurnal  of  Beaulieu,  under  date  of 
October  16,  1793  (the  day  of  her  execution),  as  the 
"  most  damp,  unhealthy,  fetid  and  horrible  prison  in 
Paris."  It  is  this  cell  that  is  shown  to-day  as  the 
cacJiot  de  la  reine.  The  Girondins  after  their  arrest 
were  kept  for  some  time  in  the  Granaries  of  the  Car- 
melite convent,  and  then  brought  to  the  Palais  and 
confined  in  the  new  chapel,  built  after  the  fire  of 
1776 ;  it  was  there  that  Rioufi'e,  also  imprisoned  in 
the  Conciergerie  at  the  time,  heard  them  singing  and 
talking  together  throughout  the  entire  night  preced- 
ing their  execution.  Robespierre  passed  several  hours 
after  the  9th  Thermidor  in  a  small  cell  between  that 
of  the  Queen  and  this  chapel,  of  which  it  later  be- 
came the  sacristy. 

The  Sainte  Chapelle  miraculously  escaped  destruc- 
tion during  the  Revolution.  Used  first  as  a  storehouse 
for  flour,  the  relics  having  been  sent  to  St.  Denis, 
and  then  as  a  club-house,  the  Consulate  turned  it  into 
a  storehouse  for  archives.  Within  the  present  gen- 
eration there  could  still  be  read  these  words  traced 
on  the  jamb  of  the  porch  of  the  lower  church  :  Pro- 
priete  Nationale  a'  vendre. 


EEVOLUTION,  CONSULATE  AND  FIRST  EMPIRE.    493 

As  we  cross  the  Cite  to  the  Cathedral  church  we 
find  that  the  decree  of  1792  has  swept  away  all 
that  were  left  of  the  churches  and  religious  houses, 
once  so  plentiful  in  this  part  of  Paris,  those  not 
actually  demolished  being  turned  to  secular  uses. 
Notre  Dame  itself  escaped,  but  with  the  loss  of  the 
"  gothiques  simulacrcs  "  of  the  Kings  of  France  on 
the  portal,  of  its  invaluable  archives,  of  countless 
statues  and  ornaments,  and  of  its  treasure.  It  was 
owing  to  the  intervention  of  Dupuis,  Avho  declared 
that  the  planetary  system  was  set  forth  on  one  of  the 
portals,  that  they  and  much  else  were  preserved. 

The  Cathedral,  closed  on  the  7th  of  November, 
1793,  was  reopened  on  the  20th  of  the  same  month 
for  the  second  and  most  horrible  of  Chaumette's 
Feasts  of  Reason,  when  the  corps  du  ballet  of  the 
opera  danced  directly  in  front  of  the  high  altar, 
their  skirts  fairly  brushing  against  an  overturned 
statue  of  the  Virgin.  In  the  following  May  the 
words  "  Temple  of  Reason  "  were  removed  from  the 
west  front  and  "  The  French  people  recognize  a 
Supreme  Being  and  the  Immortality  of  the  Soul  "  sub- 
stituted 5  but  it  was  eight  years  more  before  the  ser- 
vices of  the  church  were  definitely  re-established. 
The  magnificent  coronation  of  the  Emperor  and  Em- 
press by  Pius  VII.  took  place  in  Notre  Dame  in  De- 
cember, 1804,  and  seven  years  later  the  baptism  of 
the  King  of  Rome,  the  last  great  function  of  the 
Empire. 


494  PARIS. 

The  fate  of  the  small  churches  which  once  clus- 
tered so  thickly  about  the  Cathedral  oifers  but  little 
variety.  Ste.  Genevieve  des  Ardents,  St.  Christopher 
and  St.  Jean  le  Rond  were  pulled  down  in  the  middle 
of  the  eighteenth  century  to  make  room  for  new 
buildings;  the  others,  iivc  in  number,  were  all  sold  as 
national  property  during  the  Revolution,  and  put  to 
various  uses — storehouses,  studios,  shops — one,  Ste. 
Marine,  was  turned  into  a  popidar  theatre ;  none  of 
them  are  now  standing.*  The  churches  Avere  not 
alone  the  objects  of  the  Revolutionists'  activity.  As 
we  cross  the  Petit-Pont  and  mount  the  hill  of  Ste. 
Genevieve  we  find  that  a  number  of  schools,  and  col- 
leges as  well,  have  been  closed  and  sold  as  national 
property,  to  be  turned  to  uses  that  the  most  ordinary 
buildings  Avould  have  served  equally  well.  Such  was 
the  fate  of  St.  Yves  (on  the  left  as  you  go  up  the 
Rue  St.  Jacques),  of  the  College  de  Beauvais,  or 
Lisieux,  of  the  Church  of  St.  Jean  de  Latran,  of  the 
Colleges  des  Grassins,  de  Reims  and  de  Treguier, 
and  the  Church  of  St.  Etienne  des  Gres.  The  Col- 
lege de  Montague,  the  extreme  rigor  of  whose  regime 
was  scored  by  Rabelais,  became  in  turn  a  military 
hospital  and  a  barrack,  being  finally  pulled  down  to 
make  room  for  the  Bibliotheque  Ste.  Genevieve. 
The  College  Ste.  Barbe  (more  fortunate  than  most) 
was  reopened  in  1800  as  a  college  of  arts  and  sci- 
ences, and  two  years  later  regained  its  old  name. 

*  See  pages  164,  165. 


REVOLUTION,  CONSULATE  AND  FIRST  EMPIRE.    495 

The  college  of  Louis  le  Grand,  formerly  the  prop- 
erty of  the  Jesuits,  was,  after  their  expulsion  from 
France,  made  over  to  the  University,  which  here  es- 
tablished its  headquarters,  its  library,  and  archives. 
In  the  course  of  the  succeeding  quarter  of  a  century, 
until  the  Revolution,  that  is,  it  gradually  concentrated 
the  scholars  of  no  less  than  twenty-six  small  colleges  in 
its  lecture-halls,  and  thus,  by  assuming  the  proportions 
and  character  of  a  national  institution  (the  first  lyceum 
of  France),  saved  its  own  life.  The  name,  of  course, 
was  changed  for  a  time  (it  was  by  turns  the  College 
Egalite,  the  Prytanee,  and  the  Lycee  Imperial),  and 
a  part  of  the  building  served  as  a  gaol,  but  the  col- 
lege was  never  actually  closed  nor  the  courses  sus- 
pended. The  Sorbonne,  less  fortunate,  was  closed  in 
1892,  its  library  confiscated,  and  the  buildings  rented 
for  a  factory. 

When  Mirabeau  died  in  1791  the  new  Church  of 
Ste.  Genevieve  was  still  unfinished,  and  his  body  was 
deposited  temporarily  in  the  old  building.  As  yet  the 
nation  had  not  definitely  broken  Avith  the  Church. 
The  office  for  the  dead  was  recited  in  St.  Eustache  and 
a  funeral  sermon  preached  by  a  member  of  the  Order 
of  Jesus.  Less  than  a  month  later  the  National  As- 
sembly ordered  that  the  renuiins  of  Voltaire  should 
be  brought  to  Paris  and  placed  in  the  Church  of  Ste. 
Genevieve  de  Paris,  and  a  few  days  after  that  we 
find  the  name  of  Pantheon  applied  to  it  for  the  first 
time  in  a  petition,  signed  by  artists,  men  of  letters 


496  PARIS. 

and  scientists,  asking  that  the  remains  of  J.  J.  Rous- 
seau might  be  deposited  there  as  well.  The  people 
of  Montmorency  objected  so  strongly,  however,  that 
the  body  Avas  not  removed  from  Esmenonville  till 
three  years  later.  The  deputy  Lepelletier  de  Saint 
Fargeau*  was  buried  there  in  1793  by  order  of  the 
Convention,  and  in  the  same  year  Chenier,  after  ex- 
posing ]\Iirabeau's  correspondence  with  the  court,  de- 
manded that  IMarat's  body  should  replace  his  in  the 
Pantheon.  This  was  done,  the  remains  of  Mirabeau 
being  buried  in  a  corner  of  the  cemetery  of  St. 
Etienne  du  Mont,  whither  those  of  Marat  followed  in 
a  little  more  than  a  year. 

Passing  over  to  the  Quartier  St.  Andre  des  Arts, 
we  find  the  wealthy  and  venerable  monastery  of  the 
Augustines  replaced  by  a  game  market,  built  in  1809. 
The  community  was  suppressed  in  1790,  everything 
of  value  carried  off,  and  the  buildings  sold  as  national 
property.  All  that  is  left  to-day  to  remind  us  of  a 
college  that  numbered  among  its  masters  the  tutor 
of  Philippe  le  Bel  is  the  name  given  to  one  of  the 
streets  that  bounded  it  and  a  few  odd  volumes  from 
its  library  in  the  Bibliotheque  Mazarine. 

The  Church  of  St.  Andre  des  Arts,  filled  with  in- 
teresting tombs,  after  being  sold  as  national  property 
in  the  Revolution,  was  torn  down.  In  1809  the  city 
bought   back   the   site   and  laid  it   out  in  a  square, 

*  See  page  484. 


KE VOLUTION,  CONSULATE  AND  FIRST  EMPIRE.    497 

whose  name  is  all  that  now  recalls  the  ancient  church 
Avhere  Andre  Duchesne,  the  "  Father  of  French  His- 
tory," was  buried.  The  neighboring  Church  of  St. 
Severin  was  more  fortunate.  Placed  at  the  disposal 
of  the  administration  of  powder  and  saltpetre  in  1794, 
it  somehow  escaped  destruction,  was  reopened  in  1803 
as  a  place  of  worship,  and  when  St.  Pierre  aux  Beufs 
was  pulled  down  in  1837  its  portal  was  removed  and 
set  up  on  the  west  front  of  St.  Severin  ;  most  of  the 
church  as  we  see  it  to-day  dates  from  the  thirteenth, 
fourteenth  and  fifteenth  centuries,  with  modern  res- 
torations. The  Hotel  de  Cluny,  confiscated  and  sold 
as  national  property,  most  luckily  fell  into  the  hands 
of  M.  du  Sommerard,  an  archseologist  of  rare  talent 
and  learning ;  it  was  he  who  turned  the  building  into 
a  museum  and  laid  the  foundation  of  the  present  col- 
lection. 

The  College  d'Harcourt  went  through  the  usual 
experience  of  confiscation  and  partial  demolition,  fol- 
lowed by  partial  restoration  ;  it  was  again  used  as  a 
place  of  public  instruction  in  1820.  Under  Louis 
XVIII.,  when  a  third  royal  college  was  decided  upon 
(Louis  le  Grand  and  Henry  IV.  were  the  others),  this 
ancient  college  was  chosen  and  given  the  name  of  St. 
Louis. 

A  very  little  to  the  north-west  stood  the  famous 
convent  of  the  Cordeliers,  whose  early  history  has 
already  been  given ;  its  celebrity  dates  from  the 
Revolution,   when    its  refectory   was    used    for    the 

32 


498  PARIS. 

meetings  of  the  Cluh  des  Cordeliers,  so  called  from 
having  started  in  tlie  lately-suppressed  district  of 
that  name.  Its  other  title  was  Societe  des  Amis  des 
droits  de  Thomme  et  dii  citoyen,  and  its"  principal  aim 
was  to  maintain  a  close  watch  upon  every  act  of  the 
ministers,  departments,  and  the  Commune.  Driven 
from  the  Cordeliers  in  1791,  the  society  held  its 
meetings  in  various  parts  of  Paris,  until  it  finally 
disappeared  shortly  after  the  execution  of  its  leaders 
in  1794.  Danton,  Camille  Desmoulins,  Marat,  He- 
bert,  Cloots,  Fournier,  Chaumette,  and  others  of  the 
most  opposite  views,  were  numbered  at  one  time  or 
another  among  the  members  of  this  club,  uniting  on 
the  common  ground  of  enmity  to  the  throne,  the 
church,  and  the  Jacobin  Constitution.  It  was  they 
who  first  put  forth  the  device,  Libert^,  Egalite,  Fra- 
ternite.  The  Cordeliers  convent  was  turned  into  an 
Ecole  de  Medecine.  The  present  Ecole  Pratique  stands 
on  the  site  of  the  church,  and  anatomical  collections 
occupy  the  old  refectory,  under  the  name  of  Musee 
Du  Puytren. 

The  seminary  of  St.  Firmin  was  established  in  the 
seventeenth  century  in  the  House  of  the  Bons  En- 
fants  St.  Victor,  which  we  have  seen  standing  at  the 
angrle  of  the  Rues  St.  Victor  and  the  Rue  des  Fosses 
St.  Bernard  as  far  back  as  the  thirteenth  century. 
The  pious  head  of  this  college,  M.  Vincent,  better 
known  to  posterity  as  St.  Vincent  de  Paul,  had  lately 
moved  his  new  community,  the  Priests  of  the  Mission, 


KEVOLUTION,  CONSULATE  AND  FIRST  EMPIRE.    499 

to  the  Faubourg  St.  Denis.  During  the  Revohition 
the  seminary  of  St.  Firmin,  converted  into  a  prison, 
was  the  scene  of  the  murder  of  seventy-seven  out 
of  a  party  of  ninety-two  priests  who  had  been  con- 
fined there ;  the  remnant  managed  to  escape.  The 
buildings,  after  serving  various  purposes,  were  en- 
tirely demolished.  The  abbey  of  St.  Victor,  which 
lay  to  the  east,  had  been  in  existence  for  more  than 
seven  hundred  years  when  the  Revolution  came  to 
put  an  end  to  it.  Fortunately,  the  most  valuable  of 
its  possessions,  the  library,  numbering  thirty-five 
thousand  printed  volumes  and  some  three  thousand 
manuscripts,  fell  into  the  hands  of  Ameilhon,  who 
was  able  to  preserve  the  greater  part  of  it  intact. 
To-day  the  site  of  the  rehgious  house  founded  by 
Guillaume  de  Champeaux,  after  his  controversy  with 
Abelard,  is  occupied  by  the  Halle  aux  Vins. 

The  neighboring  College  des  Ecossais,  suppressed 
in  1793,  and  used  as  a  prison,  held  Saint  Just  for  a 
few  hours  on  the  9th  Thermidor.  Subsequently  a 
private  school  was  opened  there,  and  ihe  buildings 
are  still  standing  (on  the  Rue  du  Cardinal  Lemoine, 
opposite  the  Rue  Clovis).  In  the  church,  once  filled 
with  tombs  and  memorial  slabs,  may  be  seen  the  mar- 
ble support  of  the  bronze  urn  in  which  the  brains  of 
James  II.,  who  died  at  St.  Germain  in  1701,  were 
placed  after  his  death.  The  urn  was  stolen  during 
the  Revolution,  but  only  a  few  years  ago  the  leaden 
box  in  which  the  relic  had  been  placed  was  discov- 


500  PARIS. 

ered  in  the  course  of  some  repairs.  The  great  Col- 
lege de  Navarre,  which  we  have  seen  founded  by  the 
wife  of  Philippe  le  Bel,  Jeanne,  Queen  of  Navarre, 
in  1304,  though  confiscated  by  the  government  in 
1793,  fortunately  escaped  destruction  (except  the 
chapel,  which  was  pulled  down).  Its  ancient  buildings, 
completely  restored,  have  been  used  ever  since  the 
days  of  the  first  Napoleon  by  the  Ecole  Polytech- 
nique.  They  stand  north-east  of  St.  Etienne  du 
Mont,  and  reach  as  far  as  the  Rue  Monge. 

The  ancient  foundation,  where  poor  scholars  from 
Asia  received  a  Christian  education,  and  which  be- 
came later  the  College  de  la  Marche,  was,  after  the 
Revolution,  rented  by  its  late  principal  and  opened 
on  the  6  Brumaire,  year  VI.,  as  a  private  institution 
of  learning.     This  school  existed  until  1834. 

Some  half  dozen  other  unimportant  colleges  and 
religious  houses  closed  during  the  Revolution  need 
not  detain  us,  but  at  St.  Germain  des  Pres  most 
serious  changes  have  taken  place.  When  the  Ab- 
bey's right  to  administer  justice  in  the  faubourg  was 
restricted  in  1636  to  its  own  inclosure,  the  prison 
standing  on  the  Rue  Ste.  Marguerite,  and  outside  the 
abbey  walls,  was  ceded  to  the  state,  and  became  the 
notorious  Abbaye  Prison.  At  first  it  was  only  used 
for  military  offenders,  and  it  was  there  that  eleven 
members  of  the  Gardes  Franyaises  were  confined  at 
the  breaking  out  of  the  Revolution  for  refusing  to 
use  their  guns   against   the  people.     Word  of  this 


REVOLUTION,  CONSULATE,  AND  FIRST  EMPIRE.    501 

having  been  brought  to  the  Palais  Royal  on  June  30, 
1789,  a  mob  led  by  Loustalot,  author  of  the  Bevolu- 
tions  de  Paris,  rushed  to  the  prison,  and  liberating 
the  soldiers,  conducted  them  in  triumph  to  the  Palais 
Royal.  On  the  night  of  August  10,  1792,  a  number 
of  the  Swiss  Guard  and  others,  taken  prisoners  at  the 
Tuileries,  were  confined  there.  Among  these  was 
M.  de  Chantereine,  colonel  in  the  Constitutional  Guard 
of  Louis  XVI.;  he  committed  suicide  a  few  days  later. 
At  the  time  of  the  September  massacres  seventy-one 
persons  were  murdered  at  the  Abbaye  (M.  de  Som- 
breuil,  former  Governor  of  the  Invalides,  and  Cazotte, 
the  writer,  escaped).  It  then  lost  the  character  of  a 
military  prison  and  was  used  for  offenders  of  every 
class.  It  was  there  that  Mme.  Roland  wrote  her 
memoirs  and  that  Charlotte  Corday  awaited  her  trial. 
Not  far  away,  at  the  corner  of  the  Rue  de  la  Chaise 
and  the  Rue  de  Sevres,  stood  the  Abbaye  au  Bois,  a 
convent  and  fashionable  girls'  school ;  it  was  also  used 
as  a  prison  in  the  Revolution.  Mme.  Recamier  es- 
tabhshed  herself  there  in  1814,  and  remained  until 
her  death,  thirty-five  years  later;  her  celebrated 
Salon,  of  which  Chateaubriand  was  the  ruling  spirit, 
has  made  its  name  famous.  To  return  to  St.  Ger- 
main des  Pres.  The  church,  used  first  as  a  meeting- 
place  for  the  citizens  of  the  section  (de  I'Unite),  was 
converted  later  into  a  powder  factory,  and  most  of  its 
historic  relics  were  destroyed  or  disappeared.  Of 
the  eight  twelfth  century  statues  that  ornamented  the 


502  PARIS. 

entrance  to  the  old  tower  no  trace  remains,  but  some 
of  the  tombs  of  the  Merovingian  Kings  were  taken 
to  St.  Denis,  Alexander  Lenoir  having  first  obtained 
their  removal  to  his  museum  in  the  abandoned  con- 
vent of  the  Petits  Augustins.  Finally,  in  1797,  all 
but  the  church  and  palace  of  the  ancient  abbey  build- 
ings were  pulled  down  and  the  Rues  de  I'Abbaye  and 
Bonaparte  opened  on  the  site.  This  was  only  a  small 
detail  of  that  general  plan  by  which  Paris  was  to  be- 
come the  great  modern  capital  of  Europe }  a  plan 
which,  though  not  fully  carried  out  by  the  first  Napo- 
leon, was  destined  to  be  magnificently  realized  by  his 
nephew  and  the  men  of  the  Second  Empire. 


PARIS  IN  THE  NINETEENTH  CENTURY.       503 


CHAPTER    XII. 

PARIS   IN   THE    NINETEENTH    CENTURY. 

Our  closing  chapter  deals  with  a  period  of  extra- 
ordinary change.  In  the  space  of  something  over 
eighty  years  Paris  has  seen  the  reigns  of  three  Kings, 
three  Revohitions  have  thrown  their  barricades  across 
her  streets,  two  Republics  and  an  Empire  have  been 
successively  established.  The  outward  aspect  of  the 
city,  meanwhile,  has  passed  through  a  series  of  trans- 
formations hardly  less  radical  and  varied  ;  due  first  to 
the  passionate  love  of  building  of  Louis  Napoleon 
and  the  ambitious  designs  of  Baron  Haussmann,  next 
to  the  excesses  of  the  Communards  of  1871,  and 
finally  to  the  tremendous  work  of  rebuilding  and 
restoration  successfully  carried  out  by  the  Republic 
in  our  own  day. 

To  give  anything  like  a  detailed  account  of  all 
these  events  and  their  accompanying  changes  in  the 
short  space  remaining  to  us  is  out  of  the  question. 
We  will  therefore  only  attempt  to  notice  the  more 
important,  with  occasional  references  to  some  of  those 
hotels  and  churches  whose  origins  have  been  already 
described,  and  which  may  still  be  found  in  the  less 
frequented  streets  and  corners  of  old  Paris. 


504  PARIS. 

Of  the  ancient  Hotel  de  Ville,  whose  history  for 
upwards  of  live  hundred  years  has  been  traced  in  this 
book,  nothing  now  remains.  Napoleon  I.  had  plans 
for  enlarging  it  that  came  to  nothing,  and  the  Resto- 
ration troubled  it  but  little.  The  insurgents  of  1830, 
however,  got  possession  of  the  building  early  in  the 
morning  (it  was  July  28th),  and  immediately  the 
tocsin,  silent  since  Thermidor,  rang  out  summoning 
once  more  the  men  of  the  Qiiartier  St.  Antoine  and 
of  the  Marais,  while  from  the  clock  tower  the  tri- 
color and  the  black  flag  appeared  floating  side  by 
side.  On  the  arrival  of  the  troops  the  Hotel  de  Ville 
was  retaken,  and  the  people,  forced  back,  made  a 
stand  on  a  suspension  bridge  that  for  about  two  years 
had  led  from  the  Place  de  la  Greve  to  the  Cite. 
Strongly  intrenched  and  constantly  reinforced  from 
the  rear,  they  held  this  bridge  for  hours.  At  about 
three  o'clock  in  the  afternoon  a  young  man  was  seen 
to  swing  himself  upon  the  high  central  arch  and 
plant  the  tricolor  there.  Instantly  the  fire  of  the 
Swiss  and  Royal  Guards,  stationed  in  the  Place,  was 
concentrated  upon  him.  As  he  fell,  mortally  wounded, 
he  cried  out,  "  My  name  is  Arcole  !  Avenge  my 
death  !"  So  runs  the  story  ;  and  the  bridge,  rebuilt 
in  1854  as  we  see  it  to-day,  has  been  called  ever 
since,  Pont  d' Arcole. 

Three  days  later  Louis  Philippe,  Due  d'Orleans, 
showed  himself  to  the  crowds  on  the  Greve  (armed 
crowds  with  a  background  of  barricades)  from  a  win- 


PARIS  IN  THE  NINETEENTH  CENTURY.       505 

dow  of  the  Hotel  de  Ville.  Beside  liim  stood  Lafay- 
ette holding  a  tricolored  flag,  and  the  gist  of  the  fa- 
mous "  Programme  de  I'Hotel  de  Ville  "  was  given 
out  in  the  words  "  a  throne  surrounded  with  repub- 
lican institutions." 

The  building  where  the  policy  of  the  new  govern- 
ment was  thus  laid  down  had  long  been  inconveni- 
ently small ;  it  was  now  determined  to  enlarge  it  on 
an  enormous  scale — nearly,  in  fact,  to  its  present 
size.  After  some  years  spent  in  selecting  plans  and 
clearing  the  site,  work  was  begun  in  1837.  Thirty 
years  later  it  was  completed,  the  Revolution  of  '48 
having  delayed  matters  first  by  interfering  with  the 
actual  work  and  then  by  using  up  all  the  money.  Still 
another  plan  of  government,  the  Provisional,  had  been 
prepared  in  the  apartments  and  announced  from  the 
windows  of  the  Hotel  de  Ville.  Lamartine  had  ha- 
rangued the  people  who  crowded  into  the  Place  de 
Greve  with  a  red  flag  at  their  head,  and  in  the  four 
stormy  years  that  followed,  the  building  had  made 
more  than  one  hairbreadth  escape.  Then  came  the 
Coup  d'Etat,  and  the  work  was  resumed  with  fury  in 
anticipation  of  the  inaugural  fetes  of  the  Second  Em- 
pire. The  surroundings,  meantime,  were  completely 
changed.  On  the  east  the  old  buildings  were  swept 
away  to  make  room  for  great  new  barracks,  and  on 
the  west  the  Place  was  enlarged,  and  no  less  than 
nine  streets  that  had  previously  lain  between  it  and 
the  Chatelet  were  engulfed  in  the  wide,  straight  Ave- 


506  PARIS. 

nue  Victoria,  named  during  the  visit  of  the  Queen 
and  Prince  Albert  in  1854. 

On  Sunday,  the  4th  of  September,  1870,  Paris  re- 
ceived the  news  of  the  disaster  of  Sedan.  "  Hurry, 
get  to  the  Hotel  de  Ville,  where  revolutions  are  made, 
as  fast  as  we  can,"  cries  M.  Etienne  Arago,  who  is 
only  outstripped  by  M.  Gambetta  because  the  latter 
has  a  better  horse. 

The  "  Government  of  the  Defense,"  hastily  im- 
provised, with  M.  Arago  for  Mayor  (his  investiture 
consisted  of  a  pink  scarf  found  by  his  nephew  in  his 
pocket  and  tossed  across  the  table  to  him),  lasted  till 
the  following  March ;  then  the  Communards  took 
possession  of  the  Hotel  de  Ville  and  held  it  as  the  seat 
of  their  government  for  two  months.  When  the 
troops  entered  Paris  on  the  21st  of  May,  the  insur- 
gents, strongly  fortified  in  the  Place  de  Greve,  man- 
aged to  hold  it  for  several  days,  and  before  evacuat- 
ing set  lire  to  it  and  all  the  surrounding  buildings.  A 
hundred  barrels  of  gunpowder  had  been  stacked  in 
the  cellars  of  the  Hotel  de  Ville,  and  petroleum 
poured  over  the  walls.  The  result  was  so  completely 
successful  that  when  the  troops  reached  the  spot  it 
was  too  late  to  save  any  part  of  the  building ;  the 
whole  was  utterly  in  ruins. 

Four  years  later  the  present  building,  designed  by 
Ballu  and  Deperthes,  was  begun.  It  is  a  somewhat 
enlarged  and  modified  reproduction  of  the  one  it  re- 
placed, the  changes  being  all  in  the  way  of  improve- 


I 


iBiJrtWwIiiil 


PARIS  IN  THE  NINETEENTH  CENTURY.       507 

ments.  "Just  at  this  present  time,"  writes  Philip 
Gilbert  Hamerton  in  1883,  "the  Parisian  Hotel  de 
Ville  seems  the  most  perfectly  beautiful  of  modern 
edifices.  *  *  *  Jt  would  be  bold  to  assert  such  a 
thing  positively,  but  it  is  very  likely  to  be  the  simple 
truthj  that  this  building,  just  at  present,  is  the  fairest 
palace  ever  erected  in  the  world."  This  may  be 
true,  and  he  may  also  be  right  in  viewing  with  relief 
the  absence  of  "  all  revolting  and  horrible  associa- 
tions "  which  the  new  structure  enjoys,  but  the  ordi- 
nary mind  cannot  help  regretting  that  to  accomplish 
these  ends  a  building  which  had  been  the  scene  of 
some  of  the  most  interesting  and  dramatic  events  in 
history  shoidd  have  been  completely  swept  out  of  ex- 
istence. Nor  is  there  anything  left  in  the  present 
Place,  with  its  new  name,  altered  shape  and  modern 
buildings,  to  remind  us  of  the  popular  fetes  and  pub- 
lic executions  of  which  it  was  alternately  the  theatre. 
In  the  district  lying  east  of  the  Hotel  de  Ville, 
however,  there  are  many  interesting  old  buildings 
and  quaint  little  streets.  For  instance,  there  is  the 
Church  of  SS.  Gervais  and  Protais,  a  picturesque  ex- 
ample of  fifteenth  century  Gothic  (the  portico  is  a 
seventeenth  century  Renaissance  addition  of  De 
Brosse),  and  beyond  it  a  number  of  old  hotels  men- 
tioned in  the  earlier  chapters  of  this  book,  as  the 
Hotel  of  the  Archbishop  of  Sens,  on  the  Rue  Faucon- 
nier ;  the  Hotel  Fieubet,  on  the  Quai  des  Celestins ; 
and,  on   the  interesting  little  Rue  Francois    Miron, 


508  PARIS. 

once  a  part  of  the  old  Rue  St.  Antoine,  the  Hotel 
de  Beauvais,  whose  iron  balcony  is  the  same  as 
when  Anne  of  Austria  and  Henrietta  of  England 
witnessed  from  it  the  state  entry  of  Louis  XIV, 
and  Maria  Theresa.  Then  No.  26  Rue  Geoffrey 
Lasnier  is  the  hotel  of  the  Constable  Anne  de 
Montmorency  (restored  early  in  the  seventeenth 
century),  while  the  hotel  which  belonged  first  to 
Hugues  Aubriot,  Charles  V.'s  celebrated  Prevot,  and 
later  to  the  Cardinal  de  Bourbon,  is  one  of  the  most 
beautiful  and  interesting  relics  of  old  Paris.  It 
stands  west  of  the  Jesuit  Church  of  SS.  Louis  and 
Paul,  and  is  reached  by  the  narrow  Passage  de  Char- 
lemagne. Others  still  are  Sully's  Hotel,  on  the  Rue 
St.  Antoine ;  the  Hotel  d'Orraesson,  at  the  corner  of 
the  Rue  du  Petit  Muse,  both  by  du  Cerceau,  but  the 
latter  restored  by  Boffrand ;  and  finally  the  hotel  at 
No.  28  Rue  des  Tournelles,  built  by  J.  H.  Mansard, 
where  Ninon  de  Lenclos  died.  Voltaire,  eleven  years 
old,  had  been  brought  there  a  short  time  before  to  see 
her,  and  made  such  an  impression  that  she  left  him 
two  thousand  francs  "  to  buy  books." 

The  neighboring  Place  des  Vosges  is  an  admirable 
example  of  the  architecture  of  Henry  IV.,  preserved 
to  our  own  day  by  a  perpetual  prohibition  to  the 
proprietors  of  the  surrounding  buildings  to  change 
their  shape  or  design,  Avhile  subsequent  Revolutions 
have  spared  the  equestrian  statue  of  Louis  XIIL, 
placed    there   in    1829.       The   Colonne    de    Juillet, 


PARIS  IN  THE  NINETEENTH  CENTURY.       509 

which  occupies  the  centre  of  the  Place  cle  la  Bastille, 
Avas  begun  in  1831.  Nine  years  later,  when  it  was 
finished,  the  borlies  of  the  "  Victims  of  the  three 
glorious  days  of  July  "  were  brought  from  various 
spots  where  they  had  been  given  a  hasty  interment 
and  placed  in  vaults  constructed  beneath  for  the  pur- 
pose. In  the  trench  dug  at  the  foot  of  the  Louvre 
Colonnade  their  bones  were  found  mingled  with  those 
of  the  guard  who  had  fallen  while  defending  the 
Palace. 

From  the  Place  de  la  Bastille  the  modern  Boule- 
vard Henri  IV.  leads  in  a  direct  line  to  the  eastern 
extremity  of  the  Boulevard  St.  Germain — also  mod- 
ern— skirting  the  western  end  of  what  was  once  the 
He  Louviers.  This  little  island  was  joined  to  the 
right  bank  in  1844  by  the  filling  up  of  the  small  arm 
of  the  Seine  that  had  formerly  separated  them.  Thus 
the  Arsenal  and  Cabinet  of  Henry  IV.  are  no  longer 
on  the  river  bank,  but  stand  a  little  inland. 

Passing  along  the  part  of  the  Rue  de  Rivoli  opened 
by  Napoleon  III.,  we  come  on  our  left  to  the  beauti- 
ful tower  of  the  old  Church  of  St.  Jacques  de  la  Bou- 
cherie,  bought  by  the  municipality  in  1836  and  com- 
pletely restored  under  the  Second  Empire.  On  our 
right  the  Rue  des  Halles  leads  to  the  enormous  mar- 
ket-houses, the  Halles  Centrales,  erected  by  Baltard 
under  Napoleon  III.  on  the  site  of  the  ancient  Halles. 
Among  the  most  interesting  survivals  to  be  found  in 
this  neighborhood  arc  the  column  of   Catherine  de 


510  PARIS. 

Medicis,  on  the  Rue  Vcauvilliers,  the  Church  of  St. 
Eustache  and  the  donjon  of  Jean  Sans  Peur,  formerly 
a  part  of  the  Hotel  Bourgogne. 

When  Napoleon  I.  established  the  Tribunate  in 
the  Palais  Egalito  (Royal),  in  1801^  it  became 
State  property  and  took  the  name  of  Palais  du  Tribu- 
nat.  On  the  Restoration  the  Due  d'Orleans  re- 
gained possession  of  all  but  the  Theatre  and  the 
Cour  des  Fontaines,  and  employed  Fontaine  to  re- 
store it.  The  Galeries  de  Bois  were  replaced  in  1829 
by  the  present  handsome  Galerie  Orleans,  and  shortly 
after  the  King  of  Naples,  who  was  visiting  Paris,  was 
splendidly  entertained  by  his  brother-in-law  in  his 
newly-restored  Palace.  An  unexpected  feature  of 
the  occasion  was  a  huge  bonfire  lighted  by  a  riotous 
crowd  who  poured  from  the  streets  into  the  garden, 
and,  piling  up  chairs,  tables,  everything  they  could 
lay  hands  on,  set  fire  to  them.  The  optimistic 
Charles  X.  saw  nothing  threatening  in  this  little 
demonstration,  but  M.  de  Salvandy  observed  that 
they  were  giving  their  guest  an  a^^propriate  form  of 
entertainment.  '^  Messieurs,  we  are  at  a  Neapolitan 
fete — we  are  dancing  on  a  volcano." 

Sure  enough,  the  eruption  came  in  less  than  two 
months,  and  Charles  was  overthrown.  Louis  Phi- 
lippe, walking  quietly  in  from  Neuilly  on  foot,  one 
July  night,  entered  the  Palais  Royal  from  a  house  on 
the  Rue  St.  Honore  (No.  216)  and  passed  the  first 
two  years  of  his  unostentatious  reign  there. 


TW  nfimM 


-,  i^ie 


PAKIS  IN  THE  NINETEENTH  CENTURY.       511 

In  the  Revolution  of  1848  the  Pahace  Avas  pillaged 
and  partly  burned,  and  the  Chateau  d'Eau,  opposite, 
was  entirely  demolished.  In  the  Second  Empire  it 
became  the  residence  of  Prince  Jerome,  and  the 
Communards  of  1871  again  set  fire  to  it.  This  time, 
owing  to  the  use  of  petroleum,  it  would  probably  have 
been  completely  wrecked  had  not  a  band  of  rescuers 
arrived  in  time  to  save  it.  Under  the  present  gov- 
ernment the  Palais  Royal  is  used  by  the  Cour  des 
Comptes,  the  Conseil  d'Etat,  and  a  department  of  the 
Bureau  of  Public  Instruction. 

The  Banque  de  France,  close  by,  created  in  1800, 
has  preserved  within  its  new  buildings  the  hotel  oc- 
cupied at  the  outbreak  of  the  Revolution  by  the  Due 
de  Penthievre  and  his  daughter-in-law,  the  Princess 
de  Lamballe.  It  was  built  in  1620  by  Francois 
Mansard. 

From  the  Theatre  Francais  the  Boulevard  de 
I'Opera  leads  to  what  has  been  termed  "  the  most 
magnificent  of  recent  structures,"  the  new  Opera 
House,  designed  by  Charles  Garnier  and  finished  in 
1875. 

Proceeding  to  the  Louvre,  we  find  it  almost  un- 
touched by  the  Restoration.  Louis  Philippe  did 
something  at  the  Tuileries,  mainly  on  the  interior, 
but  it  was  reserved  for  Napoleon  III.  to  realize  the 
dream  of  so  many  successive  rulers,  and  accomplish 
the  long-talked-of  junction  of  the  two  palaces.  Vis- 
couti,  who  was  already  in  office,  was  retained  and  his 


512  PAEIS. 

plan  adopted.  On  his  death,  in  1853,  Lefuel  con- 
tinued the  Avork.  The  great  ditiiculty  that  had  con- 
fronted each  succeeding  architect  lay  in  the  want  of 
parallelism  between  the  two  great  masses  of  build- 
ings to  be  joined.  Visconti's  plan  was  to  continue 
the  north  and  south  facades  of  the  Louvre  in  straight 
lines  as  far  as  the  Place  du  Carrousel,  while  between 
them  and  the  Grande  Galerie  on  the  south  and  the 
slanting  new  wing  on  the  Rue  de  Rivoli  were  to  be 
courtyards  whose  irregular  size  would  be  concealed 
by  the  buildings.  The  object  was  not  attained.  The 
fact  that  the  Pavilion  Sully  of  the  Louvre  was  not 
opposite  the  central  pavilion  of  the  Tuileries  was 
rather  accentuated  than  otherwise  by  the  perspectives 
thus  created.  But  the  new  buildings  were  imposing 
and  magnificent  to  an  undreamed-of  degree  ;  so  much 
so,  in  fact,  that  the  old  ones  seemed  plain,  almost 
poor,  by  contrast.  The  west  front  of  the  Louvre  was 
finally  rebuilt  so  as  to  be  more  in  keeping  with  the 
rest.  All  this  part  of  the  work  was  finished  by  1858, 
but  the  compi'ehensive  plans  for  the  Tuileries,  Avhich 
would,  if  carried  out,  have  meant  the  practical  re- 
building of  the  whole,  were  never  completed.  Lefuel 
had  rebuilt  the  Pavilion  de  Flore  and  most  of  the 
long  gallery,  and  had  erected  the  gate  Guichefs  des 
Saints  Peres,  and  the  pavilions  and  wings  that  flank 
it.  Then  there  came  the  surrrender  of  Metz,  followed 
by  the  fall  of  the  Empire.  Philip  Gilbert  Hamerton 
says,   in  reference  to  this   Avork  :    ^'  As   for   perfec- 


PAEIS  IN  THE  NINETEENTH  CENTURY.       513 

tion  of  detail,  there  has  never  been  any  epoch  of 
French  architecture  in  which  the  essentially  national 
style  was  worked  out  with  more  thorough  knowledge 
and  skill  than  under  Napoleon  III.  *  *  *  Much  as 
we  admire  Gothic  architecture,  we  have  to  acknowl- 
edge that  the  modern  work  on  the  Tuileries  is  what 
Gothic  sculptors  could  never  have  accomplished." 

The  last  event  of  historical  interest  connected  with 
the  Tuileries  is  the  flight  of  the  Empress  Eugenie  on 
the  4th  of  September,  1870.  The  previous  night 
had  been  one  of  wildest  confusion  and  anxiety.  The 
Empress,  who  had  not  gone  to  bed,  heard  mass  in  her 
private  oratory  early  in  the  morning.  All  day  the 
news  from  without  became  more  and  more  alarming. 
The  populace  had  proclaimed  the  downfall  of  the 
Empire  and  the  establishment  of  a  Republic.  At 
a  quarter  past  three  in  the  afternoon  the  mob  invaded 
the  Tuileries  Gardens.  Every  one  tried  to  induce 
the  Empress  to  leave.  General  Trochu  had  deserted 
her,  and  the  Prefect  of  .Police  declared  that  to  stay 
meant  the  massacre  of  all  her  attendants.  At  last, 
accompanied  only  by  Mme.  Lebreton  and  the  Italian 
and  Austrian  Ambassadors,  she  made  her  way  through 
the  long  galleries  communicating  Avith  the  Louvre  on 
the  south,  crossed  the  Gallery  of  Apollo  and  the  whole 
length  of  the  Louvre,  and  emerged  on  the  Place  op- 
posite the  Church  of  St.  Germain  I'Auxerrois. 

The  Austrian  Ambassador  then  went  to  look  for 
his  carriage  on  the  Quai,  but  in  his  absence  the  Ital- 

33 


514  PAEIS. 

ian,  Chevalier  Nigra,  was  so  much  alarmed  by  hearing 
a  boy  call  out,  "  There  is  the  Empress  !"  that  he  thrust 
his  two  companions  into  an  ordinary  cab  and  banged 
to  the  door,  merely  telling  the  driver  to  go  to  the  Bou- 
levard Haussmann.  The  man,  frightened  by  the  ap- 
proach of  the  mob,  dashed  off,  and  the  two  Ambassa- 
dors lost  sight  of  the  carriage.  The  Empress  had 
left  in  such  haste  that  she  was  without  so  much  as  a 
change  of  clothing,  and  had  not  even  money  enough 
to  pay  the  cabman.  After  driving  about  aimlessly 
for  some  time  she  finally  remembered  that  the  house 
of  the  American  dentist,  Dr.  Evans,  was  close  by. 
There  she  went,  and  it  was  through  the  kindness  and 
good  management  of  Dr.  Evans  that  she  succeeded  in 
reaching  Trouville  and  the  yacht  of  Sir  John  Bur- 
goyne,  on  which  she  was  taken  to  England. 

On  the  night  of  the  23d  of  May  following  the 
Communards  set  fire  to  the  Tuileries  in  pursuance  of 
a  carefully-prepared  plan  for  destroying  all  the  prin- 
cipal buildings  of  the  capital.  The  Government 
troops  arrived  on  the  scene  in  time  to  save  the 
Louvre,  but  too  late  to  do  anything  for  the  old  Tuil- 
eries. The  entire  west  facade — the  old  palace — was 
destroyed,  and  the  wing  on  the  Rue  de  Rivoli  much 
damaged ;  that  on  the  south  escaped  with  compara- 
tively little  injury. 

The  most  serious  loss  was  the  Imperial  Library,  in 
the  north  wing.  The  Communards,  who  occupied 
the  Pavilion  Richelieu,  opposite  the  Palais  Royal,  as 


PARIS  IN  THE  NINETEENTH  CENTURY.       515 

a  guard-house,  set  fire  to  it  from  within,  and  the  Li- 
brary was  a  total  loss.  The  Republic  has  rebuilt  all 
but  the  west  front,  the  old  Tuileries  Palace  that  is. 
Of  this  the  walls  remained  standing  until  1885.  The 
space  is  as  yet  unbuilt  upon. 

The  Column  Vendome,  surmounted  under  Louis 
Philippe  by  Seurre's  statue  of  Napoleon,  now  in  the 
Cour  des  Invalides,  and  in  1863  by  a  reproduction  of 
the  original  one  by  Caudet,  was  thrown  down  by  the 
Communards  and  broken  in  pieces ;  fortunately  the 
fragments  were  rescued,  and  it  is  now  restored  and 
in  place.  Further  out  the  Rue  St.  Honore  is  the 
Ely  see  Palace,  once  owned  by  the  Marquise  de  Pom- 
padour and  then  by  her  brother,  de  Marigny.  After 
passing  through  many  hands  it  was  assigned  to  Prince 
Murat,  and  then  to  the  Emperor,  who  liere  signed  the 
second  act  of  abdication  on  the  day  after  Waterloo. 
Since  1871  it  has  been  the  official  residence  of  the 
Presidents  of  the  French  Republic. 

A  little  to  the  south-west,  at  the  corner  of  the  Rue 
Bayard  and  the  Cours  de  la  Reine,  is  the  Maison  de 
Fran§ois  I.,  a  hunting  lodge  which  once  stood  in  the 
forest  of  Fontainebleau,  and  was  transported  here  in 
the  present  century.  The  frieze  and  tropliies  of  the 
facade,  as  well  as  some  of  the  carvings  at  the  back, 
are  probably  the  work  of  Jean  Goujon,  but  the  me- 
dallion portraits  are  modern  restorations. 

The  unfinished  Arc  de  Triomphe  was  dedicated,  by 
an  ordinance  of  Louis  XVTIL,  to  the  glory  of  the 


516  PARIS. 

Due  d'Angouleme  and  the  troops  commanded  by  him 
in  the  Spanish  campaign  of  1823.  Louis  Philippe, 
however,  restored  it  to  its  original  purpose,  and  saw 
it  completed  in  1836.  The  great  Place  and  the 
Boulevards  that  radiate  from  it  Avere  laid  out  under 
the  Second  Empire. 

Leaving  the  right  bank  by  the  Pont  Neuf,  we  find 
another  statue  of  Henry  IV.  standing  in  the  centre 
of  the  Place  Dauphine.  This  one,  by  Lemot,  was 
put  up  under  the  Restoration. 

As  for  the  Island,  the  changes  that  have  taken  place 
there  in  the  past  seventy  3'ears  or  so  are  simply  stu- 
pendous. Fortunately  they  have  been  conducted 
with  a  view  to  the  best  possible  preservation  of  the 
three  great  monuments  of  the  Cite — the  Palais,  the 
Sainte  Chapelle  and  Notre  Dame. 

The  Palais  de  la  Cite,  for  example,  enlarged,  twice 
rebuilt  in  great  part, — before  the  Commune  of  1871 
and  after  it, — and  with  its  name  changed  to  Palais  de 
Justice,  fulfills  its  ancient  functions  as  it  coidd  not 
possibly  do  had  it  been  left  dark,  inconvenient,  and 
totally  inadequate  to  meet  the  growing  demands  made 
upon  it.  In  order  to  accomplish  this,  one  side  of  the 
Rue  de  Harlay  and  the  Courts  de  Harlay  and  La- 
moignon  were  suppressed,  and  the  new  west  wing 
built  on  their  site.  The  shops  and  booths  of  the 
Galerie  Merciere,  the  Sainte  Chapelle  Court,  and 
along  the  Rue  Barilleric  and  Quai  de  I'Horloge,  were 
done   away   Avith,   the   Grand'   Salle   (Salle  des  Pas 


PARIS  IN  THE  NINETEENTH  CENTURY.       517 

Perdus)  rebuilt,  and  much  of  the  rest  of  the  build- 
ing, including  the  Tour  de  I'Horloge,  completely  re- 
stored. The  Conciergerie,  with  the  "  Cuisines  de 
Saint  Louis  "  and  the  three  towers,  de  Cesar,  d' Ar- 
gent and  de  Bon  Bee  or  Saint  Louis,  have  remained 
unchanged  to  our  own  day. 

The  present  Boulevard  du  Palais  was  made  by  en- 
larging and  straightening  the  Rue  de  Barillerie,  and 
the  Sainte  Chapelle,  instead  of  being  allowed  to  fall 
into  ruins — as  it  was  in  a  fair  way  to  do  sixty  years 
ago — was  subjected  to  a  restoration  of  the  most 
thorough  and  careful  nature.  In  every  case  where  it 
was  possible  the  old  carvings  and  stained  glass  were 
repaired  and  preserved,  and  where  this  could  not  be 
done  they  were  replaced  by  others  carefully  executed 
in  the  same  style.  The  result  is  that  we  have  this 
gem  of  the  Middle  Ages  standing  before  us  almost  as 
it  must  have  appeared  to  the  wondering  and  reverent 
gaze  of  the  men  of  the  thirteenth  century. 

At  the  other  end  of  the  Island  a  resurrection  al- 
most as  wonderful  has  been  accomplished  at  Notre 
Dame.  Under  the  conscientious  and  scholarly  guid- 
ance of  M.  Viollet-le-Duc  the  Cathedral  church  has 
been  restored  to  what  must  have  been  its  appearance 
before  the  abominable  taste  of  the  eighteenth  century 
suppressed  buttresses,  spires,  pinnacles  and  gargoyles, 
covered  the  Avails  with  paint,  mutilated  the  west  por- 
tal, and  destroyed  the  stained  glass.  These,  as  well 
as  the  damages  wrought  by  the  Revolution,  have  all 


518  PARIS. 

been  repaired.  A  new  Gothic  sacristy  has  replaced 
the  Renaissance  one,  absurdly  put  up  by  Soufflot,  and 
every  means  have  been  taken  to  preserve  the  wonder- 
ful old  building  to  the  love  and  admiration  of  future 
generations.  These  three  great  works  of  preservation 
accomplished,  the  rest  of  the  island  was  swept  clean 
of  its  network  of  tortuous  streets,  blind  alleys  and 
gloomy  courtyards,  with  their  teeming  population. 

From  where  the  Morgue  now  occupies  Avhat  was 
once  the  eastern  extremity  of  the  Jardin  da  Terrain 
to  the  Pont  Neuf  hardly  half  a  dozen  of  the  old 
streets  remain.  Four  churches  and  five  times  that 
many  streets  have  been  swallowed  up  by  the  enor- 
mous buildings  of  the  new  Hotel  Dieu  alone,  and  the 
enlarged  Parvis  Notre  Dame  is  answerable  for  the 
disappearance  of  many  more,  as  is  the  great  open 
square  or  park  back  of  the  Cathedral  Church. 

The  Archbishop's  Palace  has  gone,  and  so  has  the 
establishment  of  the  Enfants  Trouves.  The  reeking 
Hot  de  la  Pelleterie  is  the  Marche  aux  Fleurs  and  the 
Tribunal  de  Commerce.  The  Ceinture  St.  Eloi  is  oc- 
cupied by  barracks.  Finally,  all  that  remained  of  the 
ancient  garden  of  the  First  President  is  engulfed  in 
the  great  Prefecture  of  Police. 

If,  however,  we  wish  to  recall  the  Paris  of  nearly 
three  hundred  years  ago,  we  have  but  to  cross  the 
bridge  at  the  end  of  the  Rue  Cloitre  Notre  Dame  to 
find  the  He  St.  Louis  almost  unchanged  since  the 
early  half  of  the  seventeenth  century. 


PARIS  IN  THE  NINETEENTH  CENTURY.       519 

Christophe  Marie,  Superintendent-General  of  the 
bridges  of  France,  then  threw  this  and  the  He  aux 
Vaches  into  one,  and  laid  it  out  in  streets  that  were 
immediately  built  up  about  as  we  see  them  now.  On 
the  Eue  St.  Louis  en  I'lle  Ave  find  a  church  and  a 
palace  by  Le  Vau.  The  first,  called  St.  Louis,  he 
did  not  finish,  but  the  other,  the  Hotel  Lambert,  now 
owned  by  Prince  Czartoryski,  is  a  good  example  of 
his  work.  The  Hotel  Lauzan,  or  Pimodan,  on  the 
Quai  d'Anjou,  belongs  to  the  same  period. 

The  bridge  called  la  Tournelle  Avill  take  us  across 
to  the  left  bank. 

In  1840,  upon  the  suggestion  of  M.  Thiers,  Paris 
was  enclosed  within  a  new  line  of  fortifications,  con- 
sisting, beside  the  ramparts,  of  sixteen  detached 
forts.  Twenty  years  later  it  was  decided  to  pull 
down  the  old  octroi  wall  of  Louis  XVI.  and  include 
all  the  space  lying  between  it  and  the  new  fortifica- 
tions within  the  city  limits.  This  vast  increase  of 
area,  "  les  Communes  annexees,"  together  with  num- 
berless new  streets  and  squares,  the  great  boulevards 
opening  up  direct  connnunication  between  the  new 
quarters  and  those  lying  in  the  heart  of  the  capital, 
new  bridges,  widened  quays  and  great  public  build- 
ings, have  changed  the  left  bank,  in  particular,  almost 
past  recognition. 

If  we  follow  the  straight,  modern  boulevards  of  St. 
Germain  and  St.  Michel  we  will,  to  be  sure,  still  rec- 
ognize a  few  of  the  old  buildings  of  the  Mons  Luco- 


520  PAKIS. 

tetius,  but  we  will  be  treading  on  the  sites  of  many 
others.  On  reaching  the  Rue  Soufflot  we  find  that 
the  Pantheon  has  finally  solved  the  question  of  its 
destination,  Pantheon  or  Christian  Church,  by  becom- 
ing both.  Four  days  after  the  Coup  d'Etat  Louis 
Napoleon  restored  the  building  to  the  "  Culte  de  Ste. 
Genevieve,"  but  on  the  death  of  Victor  Hugo  in 
1885  President  Grevy  again  used  the  name  of  Pan- 
theon in  the  decree  ordering  the  interment  there  of 
the  poet. 

The  west  side  of  the  Place  Ste.  Genevieve  is  taken 
up  by  the  great  library  of  that  name,  built  in  184-4, 
the  only  library  in  Paris  open  1o  students  at  night. 
On  the  east  is  the  Church  of  8t.  Etienne  du  Mont, 
which  on  the  Neiivaine  of  Sainte  Genevieve  (January 
3-11)  is  not  large  enough  to  hold  the  crowds  which 
pour  out  to  visit  the  tombstone  of  the  saint.  Some 
years  after  the  shrine  containing  her  relics  had  been 
burned  by  the  revolutionists  on  the  Place  de  Greve, 
this  stone,  on  which  it  had  formerly  stood,  was  found 
in  the  crypt  of  the  old  church  and  removed  to  St. 
Etienne  du  Mont,  where  it  is  preserved  in  a  chapel 
of  its  own  and  held  in  extraordinary  reverence. 

The  Sorbonne  was  reopened  by  Napoleon  I.  in 
1808.  It  is  to-day  the  Academic  de  Paris,  and  the 
official  seat  of  the  Rector,  who  is  chief  of  the  five 
faculties  of  theology,  science,  letters,  medicine  and 
law.  The  old  buildings  have  been  entirely  replaced 
by  large  new  ones,  begun  in  1884 ;  only  the  church 


PAKIS  IN  THE  NINETEENTH  CENTURY.       521 

built  by  Richelieu  and  dedicated  to  Saint  Ursula  is 
still  standing,  and  contains  the  Cardinal's  tomb.  The 
great  library  occupies  the  third  and  fourth  floors  of 
the  west  front,  under  the  name  of  Bibliotheque  de 
I'Universite.  M.  Victor  Cousin  occupied  an  apart- 
ment in  what  had  been  the  old  library,  and  dying 
there,  left  his  valuable  collection  of  books  to  the 
Academic. 

Off  on  the  south-east,  quite  close  to  the  Gare 
d'Orleans,  is  the  huge  Hospital  of  the  Salpetriere,  the 
largest  in  France,  occupying  the  site  of  Louis  XIII. 's 
saltpetre  factory.  It  is  associated  with  the  reform 
brought  about  in  the  treatment  of  the  insane  by 
Philippe  Pinel,  whose  statue  stands  in  the  Place  in 
front. 

The  Boulevard  St.  Marcel,  wide  and  modern,  re- 
calls the  ancient  church  built  on  the  saint's  grave  ;  it 
ends  at  the  Avenue  des  Gobelins,  No.  40  of  which  is 
the  entrance  to  the  manufactory.  The  entrance 
court  is  modern,  but  an  arched  passage  on  the  left 
leads  to  the  old  main  courtyard,  built  under  Henry 
IV.  The  church,  now  used  as  a  sort  of  museum, 
dates  from  Louis  XV. 's  time,  and  the  two  detached 
buildings  parallel  with  the  wings,  from  the  time  of 
Louis  XIV.  The  site  of  the  pavilion  on  the  left, 
which,  with  its  collection  of  precious  objects,  was 
burned  by  the  Communards  of  1871,  is  now  a  garden. 
The  building  on  the  right,  burned  at  the  same  time, 
has  been  restored.     Le   Brun  occupied  the  second 


522  PARIS. 

floor  of  the  corner  opposite  the  chapel,  when  he  was 
superintendent  of  the  Gobelins,  and  died  there. 

All  the  artists  employed  on  the  tapestries  live 
within  the  enclosure.  Each  one  has  a  little  house  to 
himself,  with  a  small  garden,  on  the  Island  of  the 
Bievre,  to  reach  which  he  has  but  to  cross  a  small 
bridge.  From  this  bridge  a  curious  view  is  to  be 
had  of  the  Ruelle  des  Gobelins,  a  truly  Venetian 
view,  since  the  little  street  is  in  reality  the  Bievre 
itself,  flowing  between  two  rows  of  houses  occupied 
exclusively  by  tanners  and  dealers  in  hides  and  raw 
wool,  to  whom  the  waters  of  the  stream  are  useful  in 
their  trades. 

The  little  one-storied  house  close  by,  with  its  top- 
heavy  roof,  is  a  survival  of  the  time  when  this  neigh- 
borhood was  out  in  the  country.  It  was  the  shooting- 
lodge  of  M.  Julienne,  overseer  of  the  Gobelins,  and 
his  h(5tel  at  No.  3  Rue  des  Gobelins  is  a  good  exam- 
ple of  the  architecture  of  Louis  XIII.  The  ancient 
Rue  Lourcine  (or  Broca),  which  winds  its  tortuous 
length  from  the  Rue  de  la  Sante  to  the  Rue  Claude 
Bernard,  diving  under  boulevards  and  reappearing 
unexpectedly,  is  at  once  one  of  the  most  picturesque 
and  sordid  streets  of  all  Paris. 

Not  very  far  to  the  north-west  is  the  Luxembourg 
Palace.  Under  the  Terror  it  was  used  as  a  prison. 
Marino,  a  painter  on  porcelain  and  member  of  the 
Commune,  was  placed  in  charge  of  what  he  called 
his  "  magasin   a  guillotine."     He    had   as  many  as 


PARIS  IN  THE  NINETEENTH  CENTURY.       523 

three  thousand  prisoners  confined  there  at  one  time, 
and  treated  them  with  a  brutality  that  has  made  his 
name  notorious.  He  was  guillotined  in  June,  1794, 
in  company  with  Cecile  Renault,  the  Sombreuils, 
father  and  son,  and  a  number  of  other  distinguished 
people,  all  accused  of  conspiring  against  Robespierre. 
The  Directory,  appointed  the  following  year,  was  in- 
stalled in  the  Petit  Luxembourg,  which  next  became 
the  residence  of  the  First  Consul,  the  Senate  occupy- 
ing the  main  Palace.  In  1804  the  great  central  stair- 
way and  dome  were  suppressed,  so  as  to  give  more 
room.  Chalgrin  then  built  another  stair  in  the  right 
wing  in  place  of  the  gallery,  where  the  series  of 
twenty-four  pictures  by  Rubens,  representing  scenes 
from  the  life  of  Marie  de  Medicis  now  at  the  Louvre, 
had  hung. 

Li  1836,  when  the  Chamber  of  Peers  was  holding 
its  sittings  in  the  Luxembourg,  it  was  found  neces- 
sary to  enlarge  it  very  considerably.  M.  de  Gisors, 
the  architect  in  charge,  did  this  by  adding  two  more 
to  the  four  existing  paviHons  of  the  garden  side,  thus 
overweighting  that  end.  The  two  new  pavilions  are 
connected  by  a  new  wing,  the  whole  being  a  very 
careful  imitation  of  the  style  of  the  old  building. 
Here  the  new  Imperial  Senate  of  1852  was  estab- 
lished, and  the  Prefecture  of  the  Seine  between  1871 
and  the  completion  of  the  new  Hotel  de  Ville. 
Finally,  the  Republican  Senate  of  1875  still  meets 
there,  in  a  large  hall  on  the  first  floor,  planned  in 


524  PARIS. 

two  hemicycles, — the  larger  for  the  three  himdred 
Senators,  and  the  smaller  for  the  President  and  Secre- 
taries. The  adjoining  Petit-Luxembourg,  built  at 
the  same  time  as  the  Palace,  and  occupied  by  Cardi- 
nal Richelieu  when  he  was  building  the  Palais  Royal, 
is  the  residence  of  the  Presidents  of  the  Senate. 

The  pretty  facade  of  the  Church  of  the  Filles  du 
Calvaire  is  seen  on  the  Rue  Vaugirard,  surmounted 
by  a  bust  of  Marie  de  Medecis,  who  founded  the  con- 
vent and  placed  it  under  the  care  of  Pere  Joseph. 
The  convent  was  torn  down  in  1848,  and  the  cloister, 
closed  in  Avith  glass,  is  the  conservatory  of  the  Presi- 
dent of  the  Senate. 

The  new  museum  of  paintings  of  living  artists  is 
on  the  Rue  Vaugirard  ;  it  was  opened  in  1886.  At 
the  end  of  this  street  stands  the  Odeon  Theatre, 
classed  officially  as  the  "  Second  Theatre  Frangais." 
The  present  building  was  opened  in  1879,  and  has 
had  a  remarkable  career.  Victor  Hugo,  Alexandre 
Dumas,  Alfred  de  Musset,  Balzac,  George  Sand  and 
scores  of  other  writers  have  here  made  their  debuts 
and  some  of  them  their  most  brilliant  successes. 

The  three  streets  of  Las  Casas,  Martignac  and 
Casimir  Perier  were  opened  in  1825,  and,  with  the 
meagre  Gothic  church  of  Ste.  Clotilde  (which  shares 
with  St.  Thomas  d'Aquin  a  fashionable  pre-emi- 
nence), occupy  the  sites  of  a  Carmelite  convent,  and 
another  called  Bellechasse,  suppressed  under  the 
Revolution. 


PARIS  IX  THE  NINETEENTH  CENTURY.       625 

On  the  Rue  de  Grenelle,  near  the  Boulevard  des 
Invalides,  is  the  archiepiscopal  palace,  originally  the 
hotel  of  the  Abbe  de  Pompadour.  All  of  this  neigh- 
borhood is  thickly  sown  with  the  hotels  of  foreign 
ambassadors  and  others  containing  bureaus  connected 
with  the  government.  Of  these,  some  half-dozen 
should  be  noted. 

The  palace  begun  by  Louise  Franyoise  de  Bour- 
bon, daughter  of  Louis  XIV.  and  Mile,  de  la  Val- 
liere,  and  finished  by  the  Prince  de  Conti  (Giardini 
and  Gabriel  were  its  cliief  architects),  was  seized  as 
national  property  during  the  Revolution,  and  is  now 
the  Chamber  of  Deputies.  The  fine  facade  on  the 
Rue  de  I'Universite  belongs  to  the  original  building, 
but  the  side  facing  on  the  quay  was  added  when 
Louis  XVL  built  the  bridge  called  first  by  his  name, 
but  since  1830  de  la  Concorde.  The  lofty  peristyle 
erected  there  was  designed  to  serve  as  a  pendant  to 
the  front  of  the  Madeleine.  Adjoining  it,  the  old 
Hotel  de  Lassai,  rebuilt  by  the  Prince  de  Conde  in 
1740,  is  now  the  residence  of  the  President  of  the 
Chamber  of  Deputies.  Still  on  the  quay,  but  fur- 
ther west,  is  the  huge  palace  of  the  Minister  of  For- 
eign Affairs,  finished  in  1853.  East  of  the  Pont 
Solferino  is  the  palace  of  the  Legeon  d'Honneur.  It 
was  built  in  1786  by  the  Prince  de  Salm  Kirbourg. 
Named  a  deputy  to  the  Constituent  Assembly,  and 
later  having  command  of  a  battalion  of  the  National 
Guard,  he  was  one  of  the  last  victims  of  the  Terror. 


526  PARIS. 

The  palace  was  won  on  a  lottery  ticket  by  a  hair- 
dresser and  sold  to  an  adventurer,  who  was  later 
sent  to  the  Galleys.  Mme.  de  Stael  presided  there 
over  those  political  gatherings  that  got  her  into 
trouble  later.  Finally  the  government  bought  it  in 
1803  and  turned  it  into  the  headquarters  of  the 
Legion  of  Honor. 

All  this  part  of  Paris,  that  is  the  buildings  along 
the  Quai  d'Orsay,  suffered  from  the  Communards  of 
1871.  The  palace  was  burned  at  the  same  time 
with  the  Cour  des  Comptes  and  Conseil  d'Etat,  fur- 
ther along  the  quay,  but  was  rebuilt  in  the  same  style. 
Between  this  and  the  Invahdes  is  the  huge  palace 
of  the  Minister  of  War,  built  on  the  sites  of  the  old 
Hotels  d'Estrees,  d'Aiguillon,  and  several  others ;  it 
was  finished  in  1877  by  the  architect  Bouchot. 

Finally  at  the  Invalides  we  come  to  the  most  con- 
spicuous monument  of  recent  times,  the  tomb  of 
Napoleon  I.,  so  admirably  contrived  by  Visconti, 
beneath  the  great  Dome,  as  not  in  any  way  to  in- 
terfere with  that  imposing  interior,  but  rather  to 
enhance  its  stateliness.  It  is  a  great  circular  crypt 
of  polished  granite,  around  which  stand  Pradier's 
twelve  colossal  Victories,  ever  brooding  over  the 
sarcophagus  in  the  centre,  and  on  its  walls  are  sixty 
flags  captured  in  battle.  Napoleon's  body  was 
brought  back  from  St.  Helena  by  the  Prince  de 
Joinville  in  1840.  M.  de  Remusat,  Minister  of  the 
Interior  in  M.  Thiers'  Cabinet,  announced  the  fact 


a  iST  flT  to  ID' 


'hi  k 


PAKJS  IN  THE  NINETEENTH  CENTUEY.       527 

to  the  Chamber  of  Deputies,  in  a  flowery  speech  ; 
''  The  mortal  remains  of  Napoleon  will  be  placed  in 
the  Invalides.  *  *  *  He  was  the  legitimate  sovereign 
of  our  country,  and  as  such  has  the  right  to  be  in- 
terred in  St.  Denis  ;  but  Napoleon  must  not  have  the 
ordinary  burial  of  a  king  *  *  *."  The  body  was 
placed  provisionally  in  the  Chapel  of  St.  Jerome,  but 
in  1861  was  transported  with  innnense  pomp  to  its 
magnificent  tomb,  Avhere,  to  again  quote  M.  de  Re- 
musat,  "  All  who  revere  his  glory,  his  genius,  his 
greatness  and  his  misfortunes,  can  come  to  muse 
above  his  grave." 

With  this  we  bring  to  a  close  the  story  of  the  build- 
ings of  Paris.  If  that  story  has  value  it  is  to  be  found, 
as  we  promised  at  the  opening  of  this  book,  in  tracing 
by  how  many  changes  and  by  what  a  perpetual  re- 
creation a  thing  that  looks  so  modern,  a  thing  so 
eminently  ours,  has  been  found.  This  book  will  have 
achieved  its  object  if  from  the  dust  of  detail  and  of 
minute  research  there  arises  a  conception  of  that 
profound  truth  which  we  so  frequently  forget — that 
vigor  and  actuality  depend  upon  deep  roots,  that  a 
thing  to  be  alive  Avith  power  must  have  been  alive 
continually  through  ages,  and  that  the  permanence 
of  life  is  based  upon  a  continuity  of  ideas.  Here  is 
a  Paris  that  Napoleon  would  not  understand  ;  his 
Paris  would  have  been  a  mystery  to  Louis  XIV. ; 
Louis  XIV. 's  an  enigma  to  Louis  IX. ;  Louis  the 
IX.'s    something   modern    and    unreal    to    the    solid 


528  PAKIS. 

workers   of  the    Dark   Ages.     It   is  this  unceasing 
change  that  has  been  her  condition  of  permanence. 

It  is  not  a  new  thing  that  you  watch  as  you  look 
at  the  city  from  the  western  hills.  It  is  a  present 
thing,  and  the  contrast  between  the  new  and  the 
present,  between  the  thing  that  rises  suddenly  and 
the  thing  that  lives  and  remembers,  is  the  lesson  of 
Paris.  To  understand  that  contrast  is  to  understand 
not  only  Paris  but  the  forces  in  all  modern  Europe 
which  are  making  not  for  growth  but  rather  for 
stability,  which,  if  you  question  Europe  in  all  its 
past,  you  will  find  to  be  the  only  and  constant  ideal 
in  which  the  Old  World  has  found  repose. 


INDEX. 


Abbate,  Niccolo,  paintings    in   the  !  Amiens  Cathedral,  8,  9 


Guise  chapel,  283 
Abbaye  au  Bois,  501. 

aux  Dames,  in  Caen,  131. 

St.  Germain  des  Pres,  see  Church. 

Montmartre,  fire  in  the  reign  of 

Henry  II.,  273. 
St.  Victor,  founded,  173  ;  rebuilt, 
293;  suppressed.  499. 
Abbo,  Epic  on  Barbarian  Siege,  100, 

112. 
Abelard,  6, 132, 1S^,  499  ;  Notre  Dame 
schools,  166  ;  and  William  of  Cbam- 
peaux,  173. 
Academic  Franfaise  at  the  Louvre, 

369-370. 
Academy  of  Painting,  exhibitions, 
370 ;  at  the  Palais  Brion,  370, 
374. 
la  Petite,  or  of  St.  Luc,  435. 
Academies  established  in  the  Louvre 
by  Louis  XIV.,  368-370  ;  suppressed, 
471. 
Achmet  II.,  at  the  Tuileries,  414. 
Aeronauts,  Charles  and  Robert,  416. 
Aiguillon,  Due  d',  found  guilty  by 
the  Parliament,  438-439. 
Duchesse  d',  Richelieu's  niece, 
338-339. 
Aix-la-Chapelle,  Charlemagne  bur- 
ied at,  89. 
Alaric,  King  of  the  Visigoths,  93. 
Albani's  Venus,  418. 
Aleandre,  J^rdme,  the  Hellenist,  at 

College  des  Lombards,  249. 
Alenfon,  Due  d',  confined   in   the 
Louvre  by  Louis XI.,  216. 
with  Jeanne  d'Arc,  231-232. 
son  of  Catherine  de  M^dicis,  es- 
capes from  the  Louvre,  275-276. 
Alexandre  de  Halles  at  the  Corde- 
liers, 17J. 
Alix   of  Champagne,   marriage   to 

Louis  VII.,  162-163. 
Allies  in  Paris,  their  cost  to  the  city, 

462. 
Altar   to    Jupiter    erected   by   the 

Nautje,  61,  68,  110,  114,  391. 
Amalfi,  discovery  of  the  Roman  code 

at,  75,  130-131. 
Ameilhon,  the  library  of  I'Abbaye 

St.  Victor,  499. 
Ami  du  Peuple,  1',  Marat's   nevv's- 
paper,  454,  472. 


Amphitheatre,  remains  of  the  Ro- 
man, 70-71. 
Anastasius  (Pope),  spurious  letter  of 

94. 
Angelier,  Abel  1',  Montaigne's  pub- 
lisher, 2S8. 
Angennes,  Regnauld  d',  captain  of 
the  Louvre  under  Charles  VI., 
231. 
Seigneurs  d',  and  of  Rambouillet, 
their  hotel,  231,233. 
AngoulOme,  Due  d',  in  the  Spanish 
campaign,  515-516. 
son  of  Louis  Philippe  marries 

Mme.  Royale,  488. 
Duchesse  d'  (Mme.  Royale),  488. 
Prince  Francis  of  (Francis  I.),  at 
I'Hdtel  de  Ville,  207. 
Anguier,    Francois,    monument   to 
Souvri?,  395;  sculptures  in  the 
church  of  Mercy,  383;  of  the 
Porte  St.  Antoine,  324. 
Michel,   sculptures   at  St.  Bar- 
tholomew, 390  ;  at  St.  Denis  de 
la  Chartre,  389-390. 
Anjou,  Count  of,   brother  of  Saint 
Louis,  181. 
Due  d',  Henry  II. 's  son,  monu- 
ment to,  469. 
Louis  XIV. 's  brother,  alterations 
of  the  Palais  Royal,  374-375; 
marriage  to  Henrietta  of  Eng- 
land, 374. 
Anne  of  Austria,  and  the  Fronde, 
340-343;  at  the  Louvre,  343;  at  the 
Palais  Roval,  336-343  ;  state  entry 
of  Louis  XIV.,  508. 
Anne  of  Brittany,  second  wife  of 

Louis  XII  ,  223,225. 
Anne  of  Burgundy,  Duchess  of  Bed- 
ford, 469-179. 
Antioch,  Holy  Lance  of,  8,  151. 
Antoine,  Jacques  Denis,  H6tel  dea 
Monnaies,  445-446  ;  railing  of  the 
Palais  de  Justice,  440. 
Appanage,  custom  of  granting,  197- 

198. 
Apport  Paris,  209,  268. 
Aqueduct  of  Arceuil,  356. 

Roman,  65-66. 
Aquinas,  Thomas,  in  Paris,  40. 
Aquitaine,  held  by  England  in  fief 
from  France,  153. 

34  (  529  ) 


530 


INDEX. 


Arago,  M.  Etienne,   at  I'Hetel  de 

Ville,  506. 
Architecture,  of  the  Dark  Ages,  87. 
Flamboyant,  192. 
Gothic,  appearance  of,  132  ;  char- 
acteristics,   187-188 ;    effect   on 
Paris,  185-186  ;  in  later  Middle 
Ages,  191-193  ;  in  the  sixteenth 
century,  259,  260;  superseded 
by  the  Renaissance,  298. 
preceding  the  Gothic,  131. 
Romanesque,  118-119. 
Arc  de  Triomphe  du  Carrousel,  481. 
de  TEtoile,  11,  482,  515-516. 
of  Maximus,  64. 
Argenson,    d'.    Chancellor   of    the 
Palais  Royal,  note  from  his  me- 
moirs, 420.' 
Armagnacs,  di.slike  of  Paris  for  the, 
30, 198-200  ;  Duke  of  Burgundy  and 
the,  199  ;  massacre  of  the,  219. 
Arouet,  Armand,  brother  of  Voltaire, 

the  fire  at  the  Palais,  437. 
Arsenal,  509  ;  Crown  takes  posses- 
sion of  the,  285  :  explosion  at  the, 
286  ;  in  Louis  XVI. 's  time,  430 ;  .seat 
of  Grand  Master  of  Artilleiv,  310- 
312  ;  trials  held  at  the,  430-432  ;  tri- 
bunal of  Louis  XIII.,  327-328. 
Artillery  moved    from    Louvre   to 

Hotel'de  Ville,  202,  211-212. 
Artists  in  possession  of  the  Louvre, 

471,  473. 
Artois,  Comte  d',  arrives  at  the  Tuil- 

eries,  481-482. 
Asia  Minor  under  Roman  rule,  79. 
Assembly  of  Electors  at  I'Hdtel  de 
Ville,  450. 
Legislative,  455,  476. 
National,  477. 
Assignats,  paper  money  of  the  Revo- 
lution, 470. 
Atilla  and  Ste.  Genevieve,  85. 
Aubert,  Monsignor,  172. 
Aubriot,  Hugues,  builds  the  Bastille, 

218-219  ;  his  hotel,  508. 
Aulnay,  Gautier   and    Phillipe   d', 

execution  of,  137. 
Aure,  Saint,  his  relics  brought  to  St. 

Martial,  115. 
Austria,  Archduke  of,  entertained  in 

reign  of  Louis  XII.,  206. 
Austrian  ambassador,  and  the  flight 

of  Empress  Eugenie,  513-514. 
Avitus,  Saint,  letter  to  Clovis,  94. 

Bailiage,  Jardin  du,  289,  385. 

Bailli,  Royal,  duties  and  perquisites 

of  the  office,  237. 
Bailly,  Mayor  of  Paris,  451 ;  speech 

at  I'HOtel  de  Ville,  453. 
Bakeries  in  la  Cite,  246. 
Bakers,  petition  of  the,  357-358. 
Baldwin,  Emperor,  and    the  Holy 

Relics,  151. 


Ballet  des  Ardents,   at  I'Hotel   St. 

Paul,  246. 
Balliol,  new  buildings,  22. 
Balloon  ascensions  of  1783,  416. 
Ballu,  architect  of  I'Hotel  de  Ville 

(present  building),  506. 
Banque  de  France,  511. 
Baptism  by  immersion,  custom  of 

early  church,  114. 
Baptistery  of  Notre  Dame,  165. 
Barbier  I'Avocat,  Place  de  GrSve  in 

1744,  408. 
Barras,    Paul    Francois,   457 ;   com- 
mander-in-chief, 479. 
Barrere,  470,  472. 

Bartholomew,  St.,  massacre,  40,  275; 
signal  for,  140;  its  significance,  259. 
Basoche,  institution  of  the,  240-241. 
Basses  Cours  of  the  Louvre,  215. 
Bastides,  wooden  fortresses,  234-235. 
Bastille,   built,  218-219;    capture  of 
the,  464-467  ;  demolished,  466- 
467  ;  in  the  eighteenth  century, 
432 ;  under  Bussy  Leclerc,  286  ; 
from    Charles    V.    to   Charles 
VIII,  218-221;    under    Henry 
IV.,  312;    key  to    Paris,  219; 
under  Louis  XIV.  (internal  ar- 
rangements),   1^25-326  ;    Made- 
moiselle de  Montpensier  at  the, 
324 ;  popular  dread  of  the,  220- 
221. 
column  of  the,  12, 
defenders,  massacred,  462. 
or  fortified  gate,  216. 
prisoners,  released,  466. 
St.  Antoine,  216,  217. 
St.  Denis,  216,  217. 
Bayard,  the  battle-cry  of,  62. 
Beance,  Halle  de,  245-246. 
Beaufort,    Duchesse   de    (Gabrielle 

d'Estrees).  302-303,  ;;04-305. 
Beanmarchais.memoires  burned, 441. 
Bedford,   Duke   of,   decorations    of 
I'Hotel  de  Ville,  '204  ;  Louvre  Li- 
brary,   215 ;    occupies   Hotel   des 
Tournelles,  223. 
Belgic  confederation,  471. 
Bell  of  I'Hotel  de  Ville,  322. 

of  Notre  Dame  (Jacqueline),  246. 
Bernard,  Porte  St.,  172,  392. 

Saint,  6,  132, 185  ;  and  the  Notre 
Dame  schools,  166. 
Bernini's  plan  for  east  front  of  the 

Louvre,  367. 
Berrl,  Due  de  (Louis  XVI.),  birth, 
438. 
Due  de,  uncle  of  Charles   VI., 
enlarges  Hotel  de  Nesle,  253- 
254  ;  sculpture  in  memory  of 
the    Due    d'Orleans,    2'28-229 ; 
walks  barefoot  to  Notre  Dame, 
•246. 
Berruyer,  statues  at  the  Palais  de 
Justice,  441. 


INDEX. 


531 


Berthier,  Foulon's  son-in-law,  hung 

at  the  Gr6ve,  463. 
Bertrand,  Philippe,  sculptures  of  La 

Samaritaine,  387. 
Biard,  Pierre,  bas-relief  of  Henry  IV., 

313  ;  his  son  restores  it,  323. 
Biblioth^que,  de  TAnsenal,  329. 
of  Charles  v.,  21.'). 
Ste.  Genevieve,  494,  520. 
de  r Hotel  de  Strasbourg,  429. 
Imperial,  destroyed  by  the  Com- 
munards, 514-.il5. 
Mazarine,  399,  400,  496. 
Nationale,  469 ;  books  from  the 
Sorbonne,  171  ;  books  from  St. 
Victor,  173;  in  I'Hdtel  Maza- 
rin,  339. 
Sorbonne,  171. 

de  rUniversite  (Sorbonne),  521. 
St.  Victor,  173,  499. 
Bi&vre,  la,  .522. 
Bijoux  du  Temple,  333. 
Biron,  Marechal  de,  319  ;  execution, 

303. 
Bishop,  Etienne  de  Garlande,  and 
St.  Bernard,  164. 
Maurice  de  Sully,  Episcopal  Pal- 
ace, 165  ;  Notre  Dame,  160. 
Simon  de  Buci,  statue  at  Notre 
Dame,  162. 
Bishops  of  Paris  buried  at  St.  Victor, 
173. 
influence  on  the  Gallo-Romans, 

93. 
territory  on  the  right  bank,  139. 
Blanche  of  Castile,  mother  of  Saint 

Louis,  152,  164,  173,  291. 
Blois.  Mile,  de,  daughter  of  Louis 
XIV.,  marries  the  Due  de  Char- 
tres,  375. 
Blondel.324 ;  arch  of  PorteSt.Bernard, 

392  ;  Architecture  Franyaise,  390. 
Boffrand,  the  architect,  church  of 
Mercy,  383;  Foundling  Hospital, 
433;  hiding-place  of  Louis  XIV.'s 
will,  38S;  Hotel  du  Bailliage,  385- 
386:  hotel  of  the  Grand  Master, 
431 ;  Hotel  d'Ormesson,  608. 
Boileau,  Lutrin,  353 

(Boisleve),    Etienne,    Prevot   de 
Paris  under  Saint  Louis,  138, 
and  footnote. 
Boisleve,  Claude  de.  Hotel  Carna- 

valet,  328,  329. 
Bois  de  Boulogne,  270. 
Bologna,  John  of,  statue  of  Henry 

IV.,  315. 
Bonaparte,  see  Napoleon  I. 
Bonnardot,  Alfred,  neip^hborhood  of 
the  Chatelet  in  the  sixteenth  cen- 
tury, 266. 
Bonpuits,  de,  an  Armagnac,  property 

confiscated,  230. 
Bons  Enfants,  Society  of  the,  183-184. 
Bonavenlura,  at  the  Cordeliers,  171. 


Book  stalls  in  the  Palais  de  la  Cite, 

352. 
Book  stores  of  the  Palais  Royal  in 

the  eighteenth  century,  48.5-4S6. 
Bouchardon,  fountain  by,  445. 
Boucherie,  la  Grande,  209  ;  in  the  six- 
teenth century,  267,  268. 
Bouchot,  palace  of  the  Minister  of 

War,  526. 
Bouffes,  performances  introduced  at 

the  Theatre  de  Monsieur,  415-416. 
Boulevard  Henri  IV.,  509. 

des  Italiens,  type  of  a  modern 

street,  15, 17. 
St.  Marcel,  521. 

St.  Michel,  Roman  road  of  Mont- 
rouge,  67. 
Boulevards,  or  ramparts,  converted 
into  avenues  under  Louis  XIV., 
403-404. 
Bourbon,    Armand    de,    Prince    de 
Conti,  Hotel,  446. 
CarJinal  de.  Hotel,  508 ;  Palais 

.\bbatial,  446. 
Constable  de,  h6tel  confiscated, 

270. 
Duchesse  de,  at  the  Samaritaine, 

.387. 
Jean  de,  begins  the  Hotel  Cluny, 

251. 
Jeanne    de.    Jacobin   Convent, 

249-250. 
Louise  Franfoise  de,  daughter 
of  Louis  XIV.,  525. 
Bourdon,  Leonard,  458,  4.59. 
Bourgeois,  the,  under  Etienne  Mar- 
cel, 202  ;  Louis  XL,  205  ;  Louis 
XII.,  206-207  ;  Philip- Augustus. 
143. 
an  Augustin  monk,  mechanical 

bridge,  414. 
de   la    Marehandise,    port,  and 
Maison  aux  Piliers,  136. 
Bourrienne,  Napoleon's  secretary,  at 

the  Tuileries,  480. 
Bossuet,  his  body  at  St.  Roch,  479. 
Bridge,  see  Pont. 
Bridges,  sites  of  the  early,  122,  and 

footnote,  123. 
Brie,  Simon  de.  Cardinal  Legate  in 

the  thirteenth  century,  175. 
Brienne,  description  of  Mazarin  after 

the  Louvre  fire,  348. 
Brinvilliers,  Mme.   de,    her  execu- 
tion, 363-364 ;  trial,  430. 
Brisembourg,  Mme.  de,  282. 
Britain,  influence  of  Rome,  79. 
Brittany,  chapel  of  St.  Yves,   built 

by  natives  of,  248. 
Browse,  de  la,  the  Jardin  des  Plantes, 

355. 
Broussel,  his  arrest,  340-342 ;  retires 

from  office,  362. 
Bruant,  Liberal,  Hotel  des  Invalides, 
402-403. 


532 


INDEX. 


Bucl,  de,  gate  of  the  Counsellor,  174. 
Bull,  IMgenitus,  directed  against  the 

Jansenists,  437. 
Bullant,  Jean,  Hotel  Carnavalet,  328 ; 

the  Louvre,  279. 
Bullet,  doorway  to  pumps  on  Pont 
Notre  Dame,  391 ;  Hotel  de  la  Force, 
427;  Porte  St.  Denis,  363;  Quai  of 
Place  de  la  Greve,  363. 
Bullion,  de,  Superintendent  of  Fi- 
nances, St.  Euslache,  377. 
Burgoyne,  Sir  John,  conveys   Em- 
press Eugenie  to  England,  514. 
Burgundian  party,  the,  197-199  ;  riots 
at  the  Palais  and  Sainte  Chapelle, 
239-240  ;  struggle  with  Armagnacs 
over  the  Bastille,  219. 
Burgundy,  given  to  his  son  Philip  by 
King  John,  198. 
Duke  of,  rapid  advance  to  power, 

198. 
Charles  le  Temeraire,  conspiracy 

against  Louis  XL,  205. 
Jean  Sans  Peur,  the  Armagnacs 
and  Paris,  198, 199  ;  Donjon  de, 
510;  massacre  of  Armagnacs, 
219:  of  Due  d'Orleans,  229. 
Jeanne  de,  at  the  Hotel  de  Nesle, 

176. 
Louis,  grandson  of  Louis  XIV., 

408. 
Philip,  walks  barefoot  to  Notre 
Dame,  246. 

Cabinet  of  Henry  IV.,  311-312,  329, 
431,509. 
Vert  (Salle  de  I'Egalite),  on  the 
9th  Thermidor,  457-458. 

Cabochiens  destroy  the  S6jour  de 
Nesle,  254. 

Csesar,  invasion  of  Gaul,  43 ;  and 
Lutetia,  55,  60  ;  the  Parisii,  56. 

Cafe  Foy,  or  Foix,  419. 

Jousserand  (Foy),  483-484. 

Caffieri,  statues  at  I'Hotel  des  Mon- 
naes,  446. 

Calabria,  Norman  conquest  of,  75-76. 

Calais,  celebration  on  the  taking  of, 
264-265. 
straits  of,  in  Roman  times,  48-49. 

Calvin  in  Paris,  40. 

Cambac(>res  at  the  Tuileries,  480. 

Capello,  Giovanni,  Venetian  ambas- 
sador under  Henry  II.,  273-274. 

Capet,  Hugh,  107, 148 ;  and  Church  of 
St.  Bartholomew,  115. 

Capetian  House,  and  the  central  gov- 
ernment, 76 ;  increase  of  power, 
194  ;  origins,  91-92, 127-129;  succes- 
sion in  the,  194-195. 

Cariatides,  Salle  des,  272,  273. 

Carlovingian  House,  does  little  for 
Paris,  117  ;  termination  of  the,  107. 

Carlyle,  derivation  of  name  of  Paris, 
55,  footnote. 


Carmelites,  established  in  Paris  by 
Saint  Louis,  178  :  gifts  of  Jeanne 
d'Evreux  (widow  of  Charles  IV.) 
to  the,  253. 
Carnation,  affair  of  the,  492. 
Carrousel  of  1662,  370-371. 
Carteaud,  Palais  Royal,  420. 
Carton-pierre  introduced,  372. 
Cartouche  and  his  band,  433;  exe- 
cuted, 409. 
Cassini,  given  charge  of  the  Observa- 
tory, 393-394. 
Catherine,  Sisters  Hospitallers  of  Ste., 
have  care  of  the  drowned,  208,269. 
Cathedral  of  Amiens,  188. 
of  Chartres.  8,  9. 
of  Metz,  portico,  20. 
of  Notre  Dame,  see  Church, 
of  Peterborough,  west  front,  22. 
of  Rheims,  8,  9, 188. 
of  Rouen,  8,9. 
Stra4bourg,  8,  9. 
Caudet,  statue  of  Napoleon  I.,  515. 
Caux,  origin  of  archdeaconries  of 

the  Grand  and  Petit,  170. 
Cazotte,  the  writer  (author  of  Diable 
Amoureux),   escapes   from    I'Ab- 
baye,  501. 
Cellamare's  plot,  431. 
Cellini,    Benvenuto,    at    the    Petit 

Nesle,  293-294. 
Celtic  conquest,  efFects  of  the,  54. 
Cemetery   of  the  Holy    Innocents, 
181-182,    183;    bodies    of     the 
drowned  taken  there,  269 ;  La 
Fontaine  buried  there,  380 ;  in 
the  sixteenth  century,  22S. 
St.  Paul,  183,  222  ;  founded,  178  ; 
suppressed,  468. 
Cemeteries,  sites  of  early,  69. 
Cerceau,  Baptiste  Androuet  du,  290  ; 
hotels  by,  508  ;    Hotel  Carnavalet, 
328  ;  H6tel  Sully,  309  ;  a  Huguenot 
and    quits   France,  .309;    Louvre, 
277  ;  Place  Royale,  309. 
Chains  used  as  a  means  of  defense, 

172,  177. 
Chalgrin,  J.  F.  T.,  Arc  de  Triomphe, 
482  ;  Luxembourg,  523  ;  St.  Sulpice, 
445. 
Chambord,  chateau  of  Francis  I., 

270. 
Chambre  des  Comptes,  additions  of 
Charles    VIII.,  242  ;    of  Louis 
XII.,  243. 
des    Deputes,    Palais    Bourbon, 

525. 
Royale,  appointed  by  Louis  XV. 
to  replace  the  Parliament,  4.38. 
Champagne,  Marechal  de,  murdered, 

202,  236. 
Champeaux,  district  called  les,  182. 
William  of,  and  Abelard,  166, 173; 
founds  abbey  of  St.  Victor,  173, 
499 


INDEX. 


533 


Chancellor,  murdered  in  Burgun- 

dian  riots,  240. 
Chantereine,  M.  de,  confined  in  the 

Abbaye,  5U1. 
Chante-Reine,  windmill  once  on  the 
site  of  the  Tour  de  I'Horloge,  154. 
Chapel  of  Louis  XI.  in  the  Palais  de 
la  Cite,  241-242. 
of  Saint  Louis  in  the  Louvre,  370. 
Charlemagne,  87-90,  98-99  ;  darkness 
of  the  death  of,  66  ;  statue  in  I'ar- 
vi.s  Notre  Dame,  17  ;  veneration  of 
Louis  XL  for,  241-242. 
Charles  I.,  Kingof  England,  portrait 
by  Van  Dyck,  376. 
I.,  the  Bold,   builds  fortress  at 
Pistres,  100 ;  repulses  the  Nor- 
mans, 99. 
II.,  the  Fat,  depo.sed,  107;  mur- 
der of  Godfrey,  101. 
III.,    the   Simple,    defeated   by 
Count   Robert   of  Paris,  107  ; 
repairs  Notre  Dame,  160. 
IV.,  Emperor,  at  the  Palais  de  la 

Cite,  238. 
IV.,  le  Bel,  confined  in  the  Palais 
by  a  flood,  238 ;  knighted,  156  ; 
last  of  the  direct  line,  195  ;  at 
the  Louvre,  147  ;  vv'ife's  lover 
executed,  137. 
v.,  le  Sage,  appoints  Hugues 
Aubriot  Prevot,  218  ;  Augustin 
church,  250;  builds  Pont  St. 
Michel,  254  ;  Celestin  convent, 
223-224  ;  comes  to  the  throne, 
218  ;  first  Dauphin,  201  ;  first 
mathematical  scholarship  en- 
dowed by,  251-252  ;  Hanse  Pari- 
sienne,  222 ;  Hotel  St.  Paul, 
221,  222,  223 ;  residence  at  the 
Palais  de  la  Cite,  236-237,  238. 
VI.,  le  Bien  Aime,  ballet  des  Ar- 
dents,  246 ;  at  Hotel  St.  Paul, 
214,  222;  madness,  198,  222; 
married  to  Isabella  of  Bavaria, 
238;  the  Prevote  des  Mar- 
chands,  203 ;  regains  posses- 
sion of  Paris,  219  ;  Sainte  Cha- 
pelle,  239. 
VII.,  le  Victorieux,  absents  him- 
self from  Paris,  204,  223 ;  Col- 
lege de  Navarre,  252 ;  enters 
Paris,  223  ;  Jeanne  d'Arc,  231- 
233;  the  municipality,  204-205; 
privileges  granted  Chevalier 
du  Guet,  210 ;  returns  thanks 
at  Notre  Dame  lor  recovery  of 
his  kingdom,  246-247  ;  statue  of 
Henry  of  England,  240. 
VIII.,  court  at  Chateau  de  Blois, 
225  ;  Palais  de  la  Cite  and  Ste. 
Chapelle,  242;  taxes  the  city 
for  Italian  campaign,  206. 
IX.,  his  animals,  276,  284 ;  Ar- 
senal, 285,  286;  attempt  on  Ad- 


miral de  Coligny,  275  ;  forge, 
276  ;  the  Huguenots,  265 ;  mar- 
ries Elizabeth  of  Austria,  274  ; 
massacre  of  St.  Bartholomew, 
275;    monument   in    Celestin 
church,  469 ;  Place  de  Gr6ve, 
266  ;  visits  College  de  Navarre, 
319 
X.,  dethroned,  510. 
of    Valois      Louis    X.'s    uncle, 
seizes  the  Louvre,  146. 
Charnal  houses,  182-183,  228. 
Charolais,    Comte   de,  son  of  Jean 

Sans  Peur,  230. 
Chartres,  Due  de,  marries  Mile,  de 

Blois,  375. 
Chastel,  Jean,  attempts  to  assassinate 

Henry  IV.,  317-318. 
Chastellon,    Claude   de,   the    Pont 

Neuf,  313. 
Chateau  d'Eau,  417,  511. 
Chateaubriand,  on  first  work  pub- 
lished in  Paris,   63 ;  Mme.    R6ca- 
mier's  salons,  501. 
Chateaux  de  Bois,  234-235. 
Chdtelet,   le   Grand,  alterations  of 
Louis  XII.,  269;    in  eleventh 
century,    122;    in    thirteenth 
centtiry,  138-139;    in  fifteenth 
and  sixteenth  centuries,  207- 
208;  earliest  mention  of,  112; 
demolished,  470  ;  prisons,  their 
names  and  administration,  207- 
208 ;    rebuilt  by    Louis   XIV., 
366;  reopened  in  the  Revolu- 
tion, 470  ;  seat  of  the  Prev6te 
de  Paris,  203  ;  September  mas- 
sacres, 470  ;  walk  in  the  neigh- 
borhood in  sixteenth  century, 
266-269. 
le  Petit,  123  ;  massacre  of  prison- 
ers in  Burgundlan  riots,  247  ; 
Palm  Sunday  procession,  442  ; 
pulled  down,  442;  rebuilt  in 
the  thirteenth  century,  166. 
Chatelets,  Grand  and  Petit.'CO,  100. 
Chatillon,     Gaucher     de,    defends 
Louvre  against  Charles  of  Valois, 
146. 
Chaumette,  fall  and  execution,  464  ; 
Feasts  of  Reason,  463,  493  ;  at  the 
Palais  Royal,  485  ;  Revolutionary 
audiences,  460. 
Chtnier,  and  Mirabeau's  body,  496. 
Chenonceau,  chateau  of  Francis  I., 

270. 
Cheverney  describes  arrival  of  Marie 

de  Medicis  at  the  Louvre,  304. 
Childebert,  builds  church  of  SS.  Vin- 
cent and  Croix,  115-116  ;  buried  in 
church  of  SS.  Vincent  and  Croix, 
116;  death,  95;  fishing  rights  on 
the  Seine,  176 ;  and  St.  Germain, 
95  ;  inherits  Paris,  95  ;  murder  of 
his  nephews,  95,  109 ;  and  Palais 


534 


INDEX. 


de  la   Cite,  109;   and  Ultrogothe 
tombs  of,  358-359. 
Childeric,  his  wife  and  son,  their 
tombs  at  St.  Germain  des  Pr^s,  358. 
Chilperic,  son  of  Clotaire,  9fi  ;  com- 
merce in  time  of,  97  ;  fire  in  reign 
of,    97 ;    founds    St.    Germain    le 
Vieux,  114  ;  tombs  of  himself  and 
Clotaire,  358. 
Chivalry,  characteristics  of,  190-191, 

19G. 
Cholet,  Jean,  founds  a  college  in 

1295, 169. 
Church,  St.  Agnan,  Saint  Bernard  at, 
164. 
St.    Andre    des    Arcs,    or   Arts, 
ceded  to  the  University,  250 ; 
origin  of  the  name,  172 ;  torn 
down,  496-497. 
Apostles  (SS.    Peter   and    Paul, 
later  Ste.  Genevieve),  94,  116- 
117. 
Augustin,  172  ;  rebuilt  by  Charles 

v.,  250. 
St.  Aure,  115. 

St.  Bartholomew,  importance  in 
twelfth    and    thirteenth    cen- 
turies, 157-1.58. 
St.   Bartholomew  and  St.  Mag- 

loire,  tirst  church,  114-115. 
Blancs  Manteaux,  390. 
Carmelite.  186 ;  built  in  the  four- 
teenth century,  253. 
Ste.  Catherine  du  Val  des  Eco- 
liers,  226,  381  ;  the  bodies  of 
Etienne  Marcel  and  his  com- 
panions at,  218. 
Celestin,   built   by    Charles  V., 

223-224  ;  suppressed,  4G9. 
St.  Christopher,  165,  494. 
Poor  Clares  (I'Ave  Maria),  sup- 
pressed, 468-469. 
Ste.  Clotilde,  524. 
Cluny,  170. 

SS.  Come  and  Damien,  171. 
Cordeliers,     186 ;    built     under 
Saint  Louis,    171 ;    rebuilt   in 
the  sixteenth  century,  293. 
Ste.  Croix,  157. 
Ste.  Croix  and  St.  Vincent  (St. 

Germain  des  Pres),  95. 
St.  Denis,  founded  by  Dagobert, 

116. 
St.  Denis  de  la  Chartre  (du  Pas), 

165,  389-390. 
SS.  Eloi  and  Aure  (St.  Martial), 
115, 157,  1.59  ;  Etienne  Marcel's 
followers  assemble  at.  236 ;  por- 
tal, 390 ;  rebuilt  in  the  eigh- 
teenth century,  390  ;  sittings  I 
of  Parliament  held  there, 
238.  ! 

St.  Esprit,  annexed  to  Hotel  de 
Ville,  460 ;  partially  demol- 
ished, 262.  I 


St.  Etienne,  first  Christian 
church  and  Cathedral  of 
Paris,  61,  68, 121-122, 161. 

St.  Etienne  des  Gres,  494 ;  St. 
Francis  de  Sales  at,  169. 
Church,  St.  Etienne  du  Mont.  168, 
520 ;  corner-stone  laid  of  the 
new  church,  293  ;  rebuilt  in  the 
sixteenth  century,  249. 

St.  Eustache,  281,  377-379,  510  ;  in 
the  Revolution  and  First  Em- 
pire, 486-487  ;  Viollet  le  Due  on, 
281. 

Filles  du  Calvaire,  524. 

Ste. Genevieve, 94,118,186;  import- 
ance after  1148.  168-169  ;  injured 
by  fire  in  fifteenth  century, 
249;  origin,  116-117;  rebuilt  in 
eighteenth  century  (the  Pan- 
theon), 395-396.  443-444,  49.5-496  ; 
tower  of  the  old  church.  444. 

Ste.  Genevieve  des  Ardents,  1&5, 
494  ;  school  of  medicine  at,  167. 

St.  Germain  I'Auxerrois,  baptism 
of  Louis  X.'s  posthumous  son, 
146-147;  porch,  255;  rebuilt  by 
King  Robert,  140 ;  signal  for 
massacre  of  St.  Bartholomew 
given  from,  140. 

St.  Germain  des  Pres,  church  and 
abbey,  in  eleventh  century, 
119  :  in  thirteenth  century,  174- 
175 ;  and  SS.  Come  and  Damien, 
171  ;  and  the  Cordeliers,  171 ; 
fishing  rights  granted  by  Chil- 
debert,  176 :  great  extent  of, 
175;  in  twelfth  century,  172; 
in  eighteenth  century,  358 ; 
origin  of,  115-116  ;  in  the  Revo- 
lution, 500-501 ;  road  opened 
through  the  grounds  (Rue  du 
Bac),  278 ;  and  the  University, 
175. 

St.  Germain  le  Rond,  founded, 
139. 

St.  Germain  le  Vieux,  114,  157, 
159-160,292. 

SS.  Gervais  and  Protais,  137,  507. 

St.  Honore,  founded,  183. 

St.  Jacques  de  la  Boucherie,  269  ; 
porch,  255. 

St.  Jean,  201  ;  chapel  of  the  Com- 
munion in.  460  ;  originally  the 
Baptistery  of  St.  Gervais,  137  ; 
destroyed  in  the  Revolution, 
460. 

St.  Jean  de  Jerusalem,  168. 

St.  Jean  de  Latrin,  494. 

St.  Jean  le  Rond,  165.  494. 

St.  Julien.le  Pauvre  166-167 ;  elec- 
tions held  at,  293. 

St.  Landry,  164. 

St.  Leufroi,210,  366  ;  in  the  six- 
teenth century,  267. 

St.  Louis,  at  the  Invalides,  403. 


INDEX. 


535 


St.  Louis  en  I'lle,  519. 

SS.  Louis  and  Paul,  508. 

Madeleine,  482-183. 

Madeleine  of  the  Cite,  built  on 
site  of  Jewish  Sj'uagogiie,  158  ; 
rebuilt  in  the  fifteenth  cen- 
tury, 245  ;  seat  of  Confrtrie  de 
Notre  Dame,  291. 

SS.  Magloire  and  Bartholomew, 
114-1  l.-i. 

St.  Marcel,  521. 

St.  Marine,  164,494. 

St.  Martial  (SS.  Eloi  and  Aure), 
115. 

St.  Michel,  mortuary  chapel  of, 
181-182. 

St.  Michel  de  la  Place,  ir4. 

Minimes,  church  and  monastery, 
383-884. 

Mercy,  church  and  monastery, 
383. 

St.  Nicolas,  early  church  of  St. 
Landry,  164. 

St.  Nicolas  du  Louyre,  140,  307. 

St.  Nicolas  du  Palais,  Crown  of 
Thorns  deposited  in,  151 ;  Red 
Mass,  158. 

Notre  Dame,  8-10  ;  built  on  site  of 
a  Pagan  altar,  61 :  in  eleventh 
century,  122;  in  sixteenth 
century,  292  ;  cloisters,  165-166  ; 
columns  from  early  building  at 
Hotel  Cluny,  114;  fifteenth 
century,  246-247 ;  fire  caused 
by  thieves,  160-161;  origins, 
114  ;  Porte  Rouge,  161 ;  present 
building  begun,  1:^2 :  rebuilt, 
160-163  ;  restorations  in  seven- 
teenth and  eighteenth  cen- 
turies, 3:S4,  391-392  ;  restorations 
of  ViolletleDuc,  34,517-518;  in 
Revolution  and  First  Empire, 
493;  schools  of  medicine  at,  167- 
168  ;  thieves  plot,  of  eighteenth 
century,  4;32-433. 

Oratoire  Royal,  moved  to  the 
Rue  St.  Honorebv  Louis  XIII., 
345. 

Pantheon  (Ste.  Genevieve),  495- 
496. 

St.  Paul  aux  Champs,  222 ;  early 
histon-,  177-178;  font,  223;  re- 
built, 223. 

SS.  Peter  and  Paul  (Ste.  Gene- 
vieve), 116-117  ;  begun  by  Clo- 
vis,  94. 

St.  Pierre  des  Arcis,  115;  seven- 
teenth century  portal,  390. 

St.  Pierre  aux  Beufs,  164-165  ;  por- 
tal at  St.  i^everin,497. 

.St.  Roch,479 

Sacre  CcEur,  site  in  Roman  times, 
68. 

Sainte  Chapelle,  8,  24,  186,  187; 
building  of  the,   151-153 ;    in 


Charles  VI. 's  time,  239 ;  conse- 
crated, 153;  coronation  of  Isa- 
bella of  Bavaria,  238  ;  Emperor 
Charles  IV.  at  the,  238  ;  fires 
of  1618  and  1630,  3.52 ;  Francis 
I.,  286-287  ;  gifts  made  by  Henry 
II.,  288;  oratory  of  Louis  XL, 
242  ;  restoration  under  Charles 
VIII.,  242;  restoration  in  nine- 
teenth century,  517 ;  in  the 
Revolution,  492. 
St.  Severin,  497. 
St.  Sulpice,  6  ;  corner-stone  laid 

by  Anne  of  Austria,  445. 
St.  Thomas  d'Aquin,  .524. 
St.  Thomas  of  Canterbury,  or  du 

Louvre,  140,  307. 
St.  Thomas  de  Villeneuve,  statue 

of  the  Virgin,  169. 
Ste.  Ursula,  .521. 
Val  de  Grace,  founded  by  Anne 

of  Austria,  445. 
St.  Victor,  168,  173,  293,  445,  499. 
SS.  Vincent  and  Croix,  original 
church    of    St.    Germain   des 
Pres,  114,  115-116. 
St.  Yves,  patron  of  lawyers,  248, 
494. 
Church   at   Medan,    font   from    St. 

Paul's,  223. 
Churches   formerly   around    Notre 
Dame,  164-165. 
of  rile  de  la  Citt^.  in  the  thir- 
teenth century,  1.57-160  ;  in  the 
eighteenth  century,  493,  494. 
Citadel,  the  Roman,  67. 
Cite,  rile  de  la,  before  the  Roman 
invasion,  47-48;  51-52,  59;  relation 
to  the  rest  of  Paris,  47  ;  view  of 
from  Hill  of  Valerian,  7-10. 
Clarence.  Duke  of,  acquires  Hotel 

Clisson,  227. 
Claviere,    Minister  of  Finance,  ar- 
rested with  the  Girondins,  456. 
Clemence,  widow  of  Louis  X.,  201; 

kept  at  the  Louvre,  146-147. 
Clement,  Jacques,  assassin  of  Henry 
III.,  299. 
v..  Pope,  and  the  Templars,  180- 
181. 
Clergy,  influence  checked  by  Phil- 
ippe le  Bel,  156  ;  in  the  later  Mid- 
dle   Ages,    193-194 ;    in    the    eigh- 
teenth century,  407. 
Cleve,  Van,  entombment   on  high 

altar  of  Notre  Dame,  354. 
Clocks  of  the  Louvre  and  Palais  de 

la  Cite,  214. 
Clodoakl,  Childebert's  nephew,  and 

St.  Cloud,  95. 
Cloisters  of  Notre  Dame,  165-166. 
Clootz.  Baron,  28. 

Clos  de  Laas,  172  ;  in  eleventh  cen- 
tury, 120  ;  in  Middle  Ages,  176  ;  ori- 
gin of  the  name,  71. 


536 


INDEX. 


Clotaire,  95. 

Clotilde,  93 ;  her  burial-place,  1 16-117. 
Cloud,  St.,  origin  of  the  name,  95. 
Clovis,  93-94,  97  ;  baptism,  93-94  ;  be- 
gins church  of  the  Apostles  (SS. 
Peter  and  Paul,  Ste    Uenevidve), 
94,  116-117;    burial-place,  116-117; 
camping  ground.  Vi'J,  HO;    com- 
merce in  reign  of,  S7,  96-97  ;  death 
and    burial,  y4 ;    gift  of   land    to 
Bishop  of  Paris,   139  ;    letter  from 
St.    Avitus,    94 ;      in    Palais    des 
Thermes,  94  ;  vow,  93;  war  band, 
85. 
Club,  the  Cordeliers,  498. 
Clubs,  women's,  In  the  Revolution, 

486. 
Cluny  church  and  college  founded, 
170. 
Order  of,  251. 
Code,  discovery  of  the  Roman,  75, 

130-131. 
Coffinhal,  Auvergnat,  456,  459. 
Colbert,  death,  buried  at  St.    Eus- 
tache,  378  ;  College  Mazarin,  399  ; 
Observatorv,  393 ;  Superintendent 
of  Buildings,  367-368. 
Coligny,  Admiral  de,  attempted  as- 
sassination, 275  ;  burned  in  effigy, 
266. 
College,  d'Arras,  173. 
Autun,  250. 
Ste.  Barbe,  494. 
Bayeux  (Notre  Dame,  or  de  Mai- 

tre  Gervais),  171,  251. 
Beauvais  (Lisieux),  494;  founded, 

248  ;  Rollin  at  the,  395,  444. 
Bernardins,  172. 
Boissi,  250. 

Bons  Enfants,  183-184,  230. 
Bons  Enfants  St.  Victor,  172. 
Burgundy,  founded  by  the  wife 

of  Philippe  le  Long,  176. 
Calvi,  ;»6. 
Cholets,  169. 
Clermont,  396-397. 
Cluny,  170. 
Constantinople  (de  la  Marche), 

252-253. 
Cornwall,  247-248. 
Dix  Huits,  166. 
Ecossais,  173 ;  founded,  252  ;  used 

as  a  prison  ,499-500. 
St.  Firmin,  a  prison,  498-499. 
France,  Francis   I.,  Henry  IV. 
and  Marie  de  Medicis,  318-319. 
Grassins,  494. 

Harcourt  (St.  Louis),  171,  497. 
Lemoine,    172 ;    its    foundation 

celebrated  yearly,  252. 
Lisieux,  494;  founded,  249,  395; 

torn  down,  444. 
Lombards,  248-249. 
Louis  le  Grand,  397  ;  "  Histoire 
Comique  de  Franfion,"  444; 


in  the  Revolution,  495. 
St.  Louis,  171,497. 
Marche,  500 
Mazarin,  339,  397-401. 
Montague,  Rabelais'  description 

of,  494. 
Narbonne,  171. 
College, Navarre  (Polytechnique),173 
500;    in    fourteenth   and    fif- 
teenth centuries,  282;   Henry 
III.,  IV.  and  Henry  of  Guise  at 
the,  319. 
Notre  Dame  de  Bayeux,  or  Mai- 
tre  Gervais,  171 ;  ancestor  of 
Observatory  of  Paris,  251. 
Plessis,  Rollin  at  the,  397. 
Quatre    Nations  (Mazarin),  339, 

397-401. 
Sorbonne,  6 ;  first  printing  presses 
at  the.  250-251  ;  now  the  Aca- 
demie  de  Paris,  520-521 ;  origin, 
170-171 ;   rebuilt  by  Le  Mercier, 
344,  353-356  ;  in  the  Revolution, 
495. 
Rheims,  494. 
Treguier,  494. 
Tresorier,  170. 
Colmar,  Michel  de,  one  of  the  first 

printers  of  Paris,  250-251. 
Colossedu  Grand  Roy  Henry,  315-316, 
Column,  Bastille,  or  de  Juillet,  12, 
508-509. 
Catherine  de  Medicis,  281,  509- 

510. 
Vendome,  12, 478-479 ;  in  the  Com- 
mune, 515. 
Comedie  Fran^aise,  in  the  Salle  des 

Machines,  414-415. 
Commandery  of  Knights  Hospital- 
lers, St.  .Jean  de  Jerusalem,  168. 
Commentaries,  Ceesar's,  allusions  to 

Lutetia,55;  lo  the  Parisii,  56. 
Commerce  under  the  Merovingians, 

96-97. 
Communards  of  1871,  at  I'Hdtel  de 
Ville,  506;atthe  Palais  Royal,  511  ; 
at    the    Tuileries,    514-515;    Quai 
d'Orsay.  526. 
Commune,  or  Corps  Municipal  (Con- 
seil  General),  organized,  453; 
dissolved,  454. 
insurrectionary,  of  August  10th, 
453-458. 
Communes  Annexees,  519. 

insurgents  of  1417  called,  239. 
Comans  family.  Gobelin  tapestries, 

392-393. 
Comite  de  Douze,  arrest  of  the,  456. 

de  Surveillance,  455,  490. 
Concierge,  or  Bailli  du  Palais,  office 
revived  bv  Charles  V.,  237  ;  Queen 
Isabella  holds  office,  239. 
Conciergerle,  8,  22,  23  ;  in  the  Revo- 
lution, 492,  517;  massacre  of  the 
prisoners,  240. 


INDEX. 


537 


Conde,  enters  Paris  by  Porte  St.  An- 
toine,  324  ;  victory  over  the  Im- 
perialists, 'MO. 
Conflans  Saiute-Honorine,  Dolmen 

found  at,  53. 
Confrerie  de  Notre  Dame,  Grande, 

291. 
Conseil  d'Etat,  h6tel  burned,  526. 
Conservatory  concerts,  origin  of  tiie, 
414.  in  the 

Constable  of  France  murdered 

Burgundian  riots,  239-240. 
Constitution  of  1791,  447,  475-47G  ;  fete 

of  the  adoption  of,  476. 
Conti,   Henrietta  de  Bourbon,  wife 
of   Due  de  Chartres,  Philippe 
"  Egalite  "  d'Orloans,  420. 
Prince    de.   Grand    Prior,    408; 
Palais  Bourbon,  525. 
Conspiracy  of  the  court.  489. 
Convent  of  the  Grands  Augustins, 
172  ;  sittings  of  the  Parliament 
held  at,  238;  suppressed,  496. 
Aure  (St.  Martial),  178. 
Avoie,  381. 
Belle  Chasse,  524. 
Blue  Annonciades,  382. 
Filles  du  Calvaire,  381-382. 
Carmelite,  173-174,  524. 
Celestin,  extent,  221 ;  early  his- 
tory, 223-224  ;  suppressed,  469. 
Poor  Clares  (I'Ave  Maria),  468- 

469. 
Cordeliers,  established  by  Fran- 
ciscans, 171-172 :  Kefectory,449 ; 
in  the  Revolution,  497-498. 
St.  Eloi,  159. 
Feuillants,  475. 
Jacobin,  in  fourteenth  century, 

249-250;  origin,  169-170. 
Madelonnettes,  381. 
Mathurin,  rebuilt,  251. 
Filles     PC'uitentes,    moved     by 

Catherine  de  Mc'dicis,  281. 
Filles  du  Saint  SacrOment,  381. 
Filles  du  Sauveur,  38i . 
Convents  in  the  eighteenth  century, 

407. 
Convention,    outlaws     Robespierre 
and  his  associates,  457. 
three  years'  session,  479. 
Corday,  Charlotte,  at  the  Abbaye, 

501 ;   before  the  Tribunal,  491. 
Cordeliers'  Club,  6,  7  ;  Danton  at  the, 

70,  171-172,  497-498. 
Corneille,  lays  the  scene  of  a  comedy 

in  the  Palais,  352. 
Correggio's  lo,  376,  418;    his  Leda, 

418. 
Corrozet,  mention  of  Grand  Chatelet, 

207. 
Cortona,      Dorainico,      death,    261 ; 

I'Hotel  de  Ville,  263,  313. 
Cosse-Brissac,  Marie  de,  paintings  in 
Cabinet  de  Henri  IV.,  329. 


Cotte,   Robert  de,  Chateau   d'Eau, 
417;  portico  of  St.   Roch,  479;  la 
Samaritaine,  387. 
Cottard,   J'ierre,  Church  of  Mercy, 

383. 
Coucy,  Enguerrand  de,  ransom  given 
to  the  Cordeliers,  171 ;  tried  at  the 
Louvre,  144-145. 
Council  of  .\ncients,  479,  480. 

of  Five  Hundred,  479. 
Coup    d'Etat    of    Louis    Napoleon, 

.505. 
Cour  des  Comptes  burned,  526. 

des  Fermes,  Academic  Franfaise 

at  the,  369. 
de  Mai,  origin  of  the  name,  241. 
Orry,  281,3:55. 
Cours  de  la  Reine,  320. 
Cousin,  Victor,  library  of,  521. 
Couston,  Guillaume,  sculptures  of 
the  Chateau  d'Eau.  417  ;  statue 
of  Louis  XIII.  at  Notre  Dame, 
3.54. 
Nicolas,    high    altar    of    Notre 
Dame,  354. 
Couthon,  arrested,   456 ;   executed, 

459  ;  outlawed,  4-59. 
Couture,  Thomas,   Church    of   the 

Madeleine,  482-483. 
Coye,  113. 

Coypel,   Autoine    (fils).    Gallery  of 
Eneas,  Palais  Royal,  376. 
Noel,    exhibition    of    1699,    370 ; 
Tuileries  theatre,  371. 
Coyze^  ox,  Antoine,  statue  of  Louis 

XIV.  at  Notre  Dame,  354. 
Crozat,  buvs  pictures  for  the  Regent 

in  Italy,  376. 
Cristina,   Queen,   character  of  her 
pictures    bought  for  the  Regent, 
376,  418. 
Cross    erected    in    Rue  des   Petits 
Champs,  230. 
piece  of  the  True,  sent  to  Saint 
Louis,  151. 
Crown    of    Thorns,    8;    brought  to 
Notre  Dame,  163  ;  Saint  Louis  and 
the,  151  ;  taken  to  Venice  and  to 
Paris,  151. 
Crusades,  effect  on  Europe  of  the, 
129  130,  185;   St.    Louis   and   the, 
151-152, 153. 
Curiosity  La  Grande,  6,  76. 
Cuisines  de  St.  Louis,  151,  517. 

Dagobert,  builds  St.  Paul  aux 
Champs,  177 ;  and  St.  Eloi,  97 ; 
founds  .St.  Denis,  116 ;  Palais  de  la 
CittS  109  ;  Tower  of  King,  111. 

Damiens,  confined  in  Tour  Mont- 
gommery,  440  ;  execution,  409,  440. 

Dangeau.  describes  Peter  the  Great 
at  the  Tuileries,  414. 

Danse,  La,  group  on  the  Opera 
House,  19. 


538 


INDEX. 


Danse  Macabre,  228  and  footnote. 

Dante,  6  ;  tradition  of  his  stay  in 
Paris,  167  and  footnote. 

Danton,  Jacques,  7;  at  the  Ba.stille, 
466 ;  at  the  Cordeliers,  70,  171-172, 
498  ;  last  defence  of,  23.  491. 

Dark  Ages,  architecture  of  the,  87 ; 
characteristics,  76-92  ;  Christianity 
and  the,  82  ;  Paganism  and  the, 
82. 

Daubervil,  fire  in  the  Opera  House 
in  1781,  42.5. 

Dauphin  (Charles  V.)  encamped  out- 
side of  Paris,  217;  enters  the  city, 
217-218;  and  the  Louvre.  212-215; 
Maison  aux  Piliers,  202-203;  re- 
turns to  Paris,  211-212. 

Dauphin  (Charles  VII.),  and  the  Ar- 
magnacs,  199  ;  protected  in  the 
Bastille,  219-220. 

Dauphin  (Louis  XVIII.)  in  the  Tem- 
ple, 487-488. 

Dauphin,  Great  Bell  of  Hotel  de 
Ville  rung  on  the  birth  of  a,  :?22. 

Dauphin,  origin  of  the  title,  201. 

Dauphint?,  Province  of,  to  belong  to 
the  heir  to  the  throne,  201. 

David,  Bishop  of  Murray,  college 
founded  by,  252. 

David,  the  Painter,  studio  at  the 
Cluny  Church,  170. 

Debrosse,  Jacques,  S  Gervais,  507  ; 
Palais  Luxembourg,  3,56. 

De  Brosse,  Salomon,  Palais  de  la 
Cite.  351. 

Defense,  (iovernment  of  the,  .506. 

Delisle,  architect  of  the  Prior's  Pal- 
ace, ;^33. 

De  L'Orme.  Philibert,  278-279. 

Denis,  St.,  church,  convent  and  ora- 
tory dedicated  to,  113;  mission  to 
Gaul,  61-62;  seized  while  preach- 
ing, 115. 

Dentu,  Jean  Gabriel,  book  shop  in 
Palais  Royal,  486. 

Deperthes,  H6tel  de  Ville,  506. 

Descartes,  body  taken  to  Ste.  Gene- 
vieve, 395-396. 

Desjardins,  sculptor  (Martin  Van  den 
Bogaert),  statue  of  Louis  XIV., 
374. 

Desmaisons,  Palais  de  la  Citt?,  440. 

Desmoulins  Camille,  7  :  at  the  Palais 
Royal,  449-4.50  ;  483-484  ;  Procureur 
General  de  la  Lanterne,  462. 

Diamond  Necklace,  scandal  of  the, 
430. 

Diana  of  France,  283. 

Diana  of  Poitiers,  monogram,  181, 289. 

Didot,  Pierre  and  Firmin,  at  the 
Lonvre,  472. 

Directoire,  the,  479 ;  at  the  Petit 
Luxembourg,  523. 

Dolmen,  found  at  Conflans-Ste.  Hon- 
orine,  53. 


Dome  des  Invalides,  402,  403. 
Dominic,  St.,  in  the  cloister  of  Notre 

Dame,     165 ;     founds     Order     of 

Preachers,  169. 

Donjon  of  Jean  Sans  Peur,  510. 
Dormans,  Jean  de.  Bishop,  Cardinal 

and  Chancellor,  founds  College  de 

Beauvais,  248. 
Doyart,  Etienne,  the   Queen's   bal- 
cony at  the  Palais  Royal,  336-337. 
Drapeau  Blaric,  Lc,  486. 
Dress  of  the  eleventh  century,  123. 
Drowned,  care  of  the,  268-269. 
Drumont,   Edouard,     on    Soufflot's 

work  at  Notre  Dame,  392. 
Duban,  monogram  of  Gabrielle  d'Es- 

trees,  .304. 
Duchesne,  AndrtS  497. 
Duchy  of  France,  its  Lord,  called 

"King,"  117. 
Dufour,  Abb(5,  the  Danse  Macabre, 

228. 
Dulaure,  Grand  Chatelet,  112;  Pont 

au  Change  in  the  sixteenth  cen- 
tury, 209. 
Duns  Scot,  at  the  Cordeliers,  171. 
Duperron,    Anisson,    execution    of, 

472. 
Duprat,  Cardinal,  Hotel  Dieu,  293. 
Duprt?,  statues  at  the  Hotel  des  Mon- 

naies,  446. 
Dupuis,  planetary  system  on  Portal 

of  Notre  Dame,  493. 

Ebles,  Bishop  Gozlin's  nephew,  at 

Barbarian  siege  of  Paris,  102. 
Ecole  de  Droit,  moved  to  the  Place 

Ste.  Genevieve.  443,  444. 
Ecole  de  Medecine,  in  the  eighteenth 

century,  443  ;  at  the  Cordeliers,498. 
Echiquier,  origin  of  the  name,  155 

and  footnote. 
Edward  III.  of  England,  claim  to 

French    crown,    195 ;    to  the   Re- 
gency, 210. 
Egypt,  fifth  century  trade  with,  97. 
Egypt,    tradition    that   a  King    of 

France  would  conquer  it.  158. 
Eleanor  of  Austria,  carving  at  the 

Louvre,  288 :    route   of  her  state 

entry,  291. 
Eleutlierius,  companion  of  St.  Denis, 

61. 
Elizabeth   of     Austria   married   to 

Charles  IX.,  274. 
Elizabeth,  Mme.,  execution  of,  487. 
Eloi,St.,97;  builds  St,  Martial,  115; 

founds  Cemetery  of  St.  Paul  au.x; 

(  hamps,  178. 
Eloi,Ceinture  St..  1.59,  518. 
Eloi,  Grange  St.,  222. 
Emblem    of    Lntetia    and    Modern 

Paris,  56-57  and  footnote  ;  66-67. 
Emperors,  Roman  and  Lutetia,  62- 

63,  64. 


INDEX. 


539 


Enghien,  the  heights  of,  50. 
England,  in  the  sixteenth  century, 

England,  Queen  of  at  the  Palais, 

238. 

English,  retreat  from  Paris,  200. 

Ermonville,  113. 

EsprC-menil    Duval  d',    arrest,    490;' 
brother-in-law   escapes   from    the 
Chatelet,  470  ;  at  the  Palais  Royal, 
485. 

Esprit,  Chevaliers  de  St.,  293. 

Estoile,  L',  Henry  IV.  at  St.  Germain 
des  Pres.  319-320;  at  the  Pont 
Neuf,  314:  I'lntrigue  des  filoux,  353. 

Estouteville  family,  College  de  Lis- 
ieux,  249. 

EstrOes,  Cardinal  d',  1' Academic 
Franoaise,  369. 

Estrt-es,  (iabrielle  d',  302-303 ;  initials 
at  the  Louvre,  304-305. 

Etampes,  Count  d',  Charles  V.  buys 
house  of,  221. 

Etudes,  Historiques,  by  Chateau- 
briand, 63. 

Eudes.  Count  of  Paris,  family  rules 
France,  107  ;  fortifies  Paris,  148  ;  at 
Norman  Siege,  102  107;  rebuilds 
Palais  de  la  Citt?,  148 ;  repairs  Notre 
Dame,  160. 

Eugenie,  Empress,  flight  of,  513-514. 

Evans,  Dr.,  the  flight  of  the  Empress 
Eugenie,  513-514. 

Executioner,  perquisites  in  the  Mid- 
dle Ages,  229. 

Executions  on  the  Place  de!a  Grfeve, 
137,  203.  204,  205,  266,  323,  363-364, 
409, 462-463, 507. 

Executions  on  the  Place  aux  Mar- 
chands,  or  du  Pilori,  229-230, 

Executions  on  the  Place  de  la  Revo- 
lution, 478. 

Exeter,  Duke  of,  in  command  of  the 
Bastille,  220. 

Faubourg,  St.  Antoine,  406 ;  pro- 
claims a  state  of  insurrection,  4.i3  ; 
rapid  growth  of  the,  220. 

Faubourg,  St.  Germain,  in  the  six- 
teenth century,  29.3-295  ;  Henry  IV. 
in  the.319. 

Faubourg,  St.  Marceau,  406. 

Faubourgs,  the,  in  the  Revolution, 
406,  449- 

Feast  of  Reason,  at  St.  Eustache,  486 ; 
at  Notre  Dame.  493 ;  at  the  Place 
de  Greve,  463-464. 

Felebien.  Grand  Chatelet  inll60,207. 

Feraud,  the  murder  of,  460. 

Ferrant,  Coiint  of  Flanders,  conspi- 
racy of,  144. 

Feudalism,  beginnings  of,  98;  the  de- 
cline of,  133,  190-191. 

Feuillade,  Due  de  la,  Place  des  Vie- 
toires,  373-374. 


Feuillant  Club.  475. 

Fieubet.  Gaspard,  327. 

Fire  Department,  first  organized  in 
Paris,  24.5-246. 

Fish  Market  bv  the  Chatelet,  268  ;  of 
the  Marche  Neuf,  292. 

Fishing  rights,  of  the  Seine,  176. 

Flamboyant  architecture,  192. 

Fl(?chier,  admitted  to  Acadt^mie 
Franraise,  369  370. 

Flesselles,  de.  Prevot  des  Marchands, 
shot  at  the  Greve,  460. 

Font  of  St.  Paul  aux  Champs,  now  at 
MMan,  223. 

Fontaine  and  Percier,  plans  for 
connecting  Louvre  and  Tuileries, 
474. 

Fontainebleau,  chateau  of  Francis  I. 
at,  270. 

Pontenelle,  the  Palais  Royal,  421. 

Force,  M.  Caumont  la.  massacred 
with  his  son.  282;  escape  of  his 
younger  son,  282. 

Fortifications  in  time  of  Henry  IV., 
298  :  of  1840,  519. 

Fosst?s,  line  of  streets  in  the  Latin 
quarter,  141 . 

Foulon,  hung  from  street  lamp  of  La 
Greve,  463. 

Foundlings  in  the  sixteenth  cen- 
tury, 292-293. 

Fountain  of  Rue  de  Grenelle,  445. 
Place  de  Greve,  323,  344. 
Marcht?  aux  Innocents,  282. 
Miidicis,  356. 
St.  Michel,  394. 

Fouquet  Nicolas,  les  Gobelins,  393; 
trial,  328. 

Fouquier  (Tinville),  the  Revolution- 
ary Tribunal,  491-492. 

Fourey,  de,  Prevot  des  Marchands 
under  Louis  XIV.,  365. 

Fournier,  Edouard,  the  Ste.  Cha- 
pelle,  152. 

Fouville,  Marquis  de  and  Richelieu, 
339. 

Furstenberg,  Abbot  and  Cardinal 
de,446. 

France,  her  attitude  in  the  sixteenth 
century  quarrels,  259. 

Francis  i.,  207  :  "borrows"  the  City 
Arsenal,  28.5;  buys  de  Neufville 
Villa  for  Louise"  of  Savoy,  278 ; 
carving  at  the  Louvre  of,  288  ;  Col- 
lege de  France,  318  ;  confiscation 
of  Palais  Bnurbon,  270  ;  death.  263  ; 
demands  for  money,  261-262;  gift 
of  the  citv  on  state"  entry  of,  261  ; 
Hotel  de  Ville  and,  261-263  ;  founds 
Hospital  of  les  Enfants  Dieu, 
382-383;  taste  for  building,  269- 
270. 

Francis  I.,  Maison  de,  515. 

Francis  II..  marriage  of,  288;  monu- 
ment in  Celestin  Church,  469. 


540 


INDEX. 


Francis  de  Sales,  St.,  at  St.  Etienne 

des  Gifc!S,  169. 
Franciscans,    establish     Cordeliers' 

Convent,  171-172. 
Franconville,  origin  of  name,  112. 
Franks,  conquest  of  Gaul,  92-93. 
FrtJmier,  Ren(^,  sculptures  on  la  Sa- 

maritaine,  387. 
Freron  demands  destruction  of  Hotel 

de  Ville,  459. 
Fresne,  Pierre  Forget  de,  Sec'y  of 

State,  333. 
Frochot,  first  Prefect  of  the  Seine, 

460,  461  ;  loses  his  office,  462. 
Froissart  on  the  succession  of  Philip 

of  Valois,  211. 
Fronde,  the,  134,  303  ;  at  the  Palais 

and  Pont  Neuf,  353 ;  the  rising  of 

August,  1648,  340-342, 

Gaguin,  Robert,  Mathurin  convent, 
251. 

Gabriel,  Jacques,  Palais  Bourbon, 
525;  de  la  Citt?,  435-436;  de  la 
Force,  427 ;  du  Louvre,  412-413 ; 
Place  de  la  Concorde,  478. 

Gabrielle  d'Estrt^es,  302-303,  304-305. 

Galanteries  des  Rois  de  France,  by 
Sauval,  305. 

Galerie  des  Hommes  Illustres,  337  ; 
Merci^re,  242,  booljstalls  of  the, 
352  ;  des  Proues,  336,  422. 

Galen,  his  works  the  first  published 
in  Paris,  63. 

Gallio  and  Duprc',  Palais  de  la  Cit<5, 
288. 

Gallo-Roman  ramparts,  found  near 
Notre  Dame,  69. 

Gallo-Roman,  ruins  in  Rue  de  Con- 
stantine,  58  and  footnote. 

Gallois,  Abbt?,  369. 

Galon  Bishop  and  the  convents,  159, 
178. 

Gambetta  announces  third  Republic, 
7  ;  at  the  Hotel  de  Ville,  506. 

Garde  Nationale,  created,  4.50-451. 

Garlande,  Etienne  de,  and  St.  Ber- 
nard, 164,  and  Notre  Dame,  160. 

Garnier,  Charles,  Grand  Opera 
House,  511. 

Gaston  of  Orleans,  342. 

Gaul,  Barbarian  occupation  of,  84; 
Christianity  in  Dark  Ages,  82; 
Frankish  conquest  of,  92-93;  Pa- 
ganism in  the  Dark  Ages,  82  ;  Ro- 
man influence  on,  80 ;  Roman 
conquest  of,  43. 

Gauls,  water-carriage  of  the,  157. 

Genabum,  Orlt^ans,  Roman  road  to, 
59,  64,  166. 

Geneve  Petite,  Faubourg  St.  Germain 
^  called,  295. 

Genevieve,  Ste.,  and  Attila.  85;  bu- 
rial-place, 94,  116-117  ;  meets  St. 
Germain,  139 ;  Neuvaine,  de,  520 ; 


relics,  6,  464,  520;  shrine,  168; 
tombstone,  520. 

Genevit've,  Mont  Ste.,  6, 118, 168. 

Genlis,  Mme.  de,  at  the  Palais  Royal, 
42C.. 

Geoft'ry  of  Paris,  Parlement  de  Phil- 
ippe le  Long,  157. 

Gerard, d' Abbe  ville, founds  Sorbonne 
Library,  171. 

Gering,  Ulric,  one  of  the  first  printers 
of  Paris,  2.50-251. 

Germain,  St.,  body  of,  114;  trans- 
ferred to  SS.  Vincent  and  Croix, 
116  ;  and  Childebert,  95, 114 ;  meets 
Ste.  Genevieve,  139  ;  Signature,  95. 

Germain  des  Pres,  St.  (see  Church). 

Germain  des  Pres,  Abbot  of  in  Nor- 
man Siege,  105 ;  monks  build  a  city 
gate,  174. 

Germain  des  Pri?s,  the  Fair  of,  254. 

Gervais,  Maitre,  College  de  Notre 
Dame  de  Bayeux,  251. 

Ghetto,  in  thirteenth  century,  158. 

Ghini,  Florentine  Bishop "  founds 
College  des  Lombards,  249. 

Gibbon,  mysticism  of  the  Dark  Ages, 
77-78. 

Gioconda,  Fra  Giovanni,  Palais  de 
la  Cit6,  and  Pont  Notre  Dame,  243- 
245. 

Girardini,  Palais  Bourbon,  525. 

Girardon,  Richelieu's  tomb,  356. 

Girondin  movement,  che,  134. 

Girondins,  arrest  of  the,  456  ;  before 
the  Tribunal,  491 ;  in  the  Concier- 
gerie,  492. 

Gislemar,  describes  church  of  SS. 
Vincent  and  Croix,  115-116. 

Gisors,  de,  additions  to  the  Luxem- 
bourg, 523. 

Glaber,  Raoul,  account  of  Philip 
Augustus,  148-149. 

Gobelins,  establishment,  392-393,  521- 
522. 

Godfry,  murder  of,  101. 

Gondeband,  King  of  Burgundy,  93. 

Gothic  Architecture,  appearance  of, 
132  ;  characteristics,  187-188  ;  effect 
on  Paris,  185,  187 ;  in  later  Middle 
Ages,  191-193  ;  Revival  in  England, 
23  ;  survives  late  in  Paris,  259. 

Goujon,  Jean,  bas-reliefs  of  Arch  of 
Henry  III.,  324  ;  at  the  Fish  Market, 
292 ;  Fountain  of  MarchtJ  aux  In- 
nocents, 282  ;  Hotel  Carnavalet, 
283,  328;  Louvre,  272,  277  ;  Maison 
de  Francois  I.,  515. 

Goust,  succeeds  Chalgrin  on  Arc  de 
Triomphe,  482. 

Gonzague,  Louis  de.  Prince  of  Nev- 
ers,  295. 

Gozlin,  Bishop,  and  Siegfried,  101 ; 
at  Norman  Siege  of  Paris,  102. 

Grand  Chantier  du  Temple  house, 
of,  227. 


INDEX. 


541 


Grand   Master   of    Artillery,   office 

suppressed,  430-431. 
Grand  Siecle,  Paris  and  the,  360-362. 
Granet,  Hotel  de  Ville,  4.i9. 
Gregory  of  Tours,  account  Childe- 

bert,  115  ;  of  Chilperic,  96  ;  of  St. 

Denis,  62 ;  baptism  of  Clovis,  94  ; 

Fair  on  I'lle  de  la  Cit6,  llo ;  St.  Ju- 

lien  le  Pauvre,  1G6. 
Guerin,  Gilles,  statue  of  Louis  XIV., 

362-363,  365. 
Guet  Civil,  in  the  sixteenth  century, 

267. 
Guet  Royal,  209-210. 
Guiche,  Due  de,  38S. 
Guido,  Antonio,  statue  of  Henry  IV., 

315-316. 
Guienne,  Due    de,  at  the  Louvre, 

214. 
Guillotine,  first  trial  of  the,  463 ;  at 

the  Carrousel,  463 ;  at   the  Place 

de  la  Revolution  (de  la  Concorde), 

463,  478. 
Guimard  in  the  Palais  Royal,  425. 
Guise,  Due  de,  and  President  de  Har- 

lay,  289. 

Halle,  Les  dames  de  la,  379-380 ; 
march  to  Versailles,  451-452  ;  in  the 
Revolution.  486. 

Halle  aux  Bles,  426-427. 

aux  Vins,  site  of  the,  173,  499. 

Halles  Centrales,  509 :  in  eighteenth 
century,  426-427;  market-place  from 
early  times,  58-59  ;  under  Philip- 
Augustus,  182. 

Hammerton,  Philip  Gilbert,  on  Ho- 
tel de  Ville,  507  ;  Notre  Dame,  162  ; 
Tuileries,  512-513. 

Hanse  Parisienne,  Charles  V.  and 
the,  222 ;  its  origin  and  develop- 
ment, 58. 

Harcourt,  Guy  de.  Bishop  of  Lisieux, 
249. 

Harlay,  First  President  de,  289 

Hascheim,  brother  of  Count  Meaux, 
101. 

Haudriettes,  Hospice  founded,  137. 

Hebertists,  arrest  of  the,  464. 

Henri  II.,  additions  to  Palais  de  la 
CM,  288-289 ;  death,  284-288  ;  at  Ho 
tel  de  Ville,  263;  at  Louvre,  273- 
274 ;  marriage  to  Catherine  de 
Medicis,  262-263  ;  monument  in  Ce- 
lestin  Church,  469;  Sainte  Cha- 
pelle,  288;  State  Chamber,  274. 

Henri  III.,  assassination  of.  299; 
la  Charitfe  Chretienne  (les  Invali- 
des),  402 ;  demands  for  money, 
266;  flight,  276-277;  gibes  against, 
273  :  menagerie,  276  ;  public  affairs 
at  his  death,  299-300;  rebuilds 
Cordeliers  Church,  293  ;  suppresses 
King  of  the  Basoche,  241 ;  trium- 
phal arch  of,  324.  | 


Henri  IV.,  abjuration,  301 ;  the  Aree- 
nal,  310-312  ;  aspect  of  Paris  on'ten- 
try  of,  298 ;  assassination,  303  ;  bas- 
relief  of  at  Hotel  de  Ville,  313,  323, 
451,  removed,  460;  characteristics 
of  the  period,  297-:300  ;  la  Charity 
Chretienne  (les  Invalides),  402; 
claim  to  the  throne,  299  300  ;  edict 
of  Nantes,  302  ;  entry,  301,  451  ;  the 
Louvre.  304-;?07  ;  opposition  of  Paris 
to,  30;  Place  Dauphine,  314-315; 
Place  de  France,  308;  Place  Roy- 
ale,  308-310,  508;  policv  of  his 
reign,  :S01 -303;  Pont  Neuf.  289-290, 
313-315;  la  Pyramide,  .317-318;  re- 
ceives Prevot  des  Marchands,  312  ; 
reinstates  city  in  its  privileges, 
312  ;  silk  factory,  309 ;  statue  on 
Pont  Neuf,  315-316,  479,  490.  516  ; 
Sully  and,  312  ;  work  on  Paris.  298- 
299. 

Henrietta  Maria  (widow  of  Charles 
I.  of  England)  at  the  Louvre,  .346  ; 
at  the  Palais  Royal,  341-342  ;  entry 
of  Louis  XIV.,  508. 

Henriot,  the  volunteers  for  la  Ven- 
dfe,  456 ;  9th  Thermidor,  457,  458, 
459. 

Henri  III.  of  England,  does  allegi- 
ance for  Aquitaine,  153  ;  French 
provinces,  195;  visits  Paris,  179- 
180. 

Henry  V.  of  England,  English  wars. 
197,  198-199  ;  statue  among  those  of 
Kings  of  France,  240. 

Henry  VI.  of  England,  accepted  by 
Paris,  199  ;  crowned  at  Notre  Dame, 
199.246;  consecrated  in  the  Sainte 
Chapelle,  240. 

Henry  of  Bavaria,  ninth  century 
siege  of  Paris,  105. 

Heraclius,  Patriarch  of  Jerusalem  at 
Notre  Dame,  160. 

Hervt?  at  siege  of  Paris,  104. 

Hill  of  Montmartre,  13-14. 

Honors,  Saint,  patron  of  bakers,  183. 

Honors,  aux  Porcions,  St.,  183. 

Honorius,  Pope,  instruction  in  Civil 
Law,  248. 

Horn,  Count,  execution  of,  409. 

Hospital  of  St.  Christopher,  164. 

Hotel   Dieu,    518;    building   of, 
164;   College  des  Dix  Huits  at, 
166  ;  sixteenth  century, 293  ;  sev- 
enteenth and  eighteenth  cen- 
turies, 433-434. 
Enfants  Dieu,  or  Rouges,  382-383. 
Foundling,  292-293,  433,  518. 
Salpetri6re,  521. 

Hospitallers,  Commandery  of  the, 
168. 

Hotel,  d' Aiguillon,  526. 
d'Angennes,  231,  233. 
d'AngoulOme,  built  by  Diana  of 
France,  283. 


542 


INDEX. 


Hotel,  d'ArRenson.or  Chancelerie  du 

Due  d'Ork^ns, -119. 
d'Armagnac,  281. 
d'Armenonville,     becomes     les 

PostGS  413. 
duBailli'age,  accident  in  the,  385- 

386. 
Barbeaux,  178. 
Barbette,  181. 
Beauvais,  508. 
de  Boheme,  281. 
Bourbon,  307,  confiscated,  270. 
Bourbon  (Petit)  torn  down.  347, 

413. 
Bourgogne,  510. 
BrtHagne  (or  Neuf)  Charles  \  III. 

gives  it  to  Anne  of  Brittany, 

223. 
Bretagne  (Petite),  233. 
Brienne,     becomes     la     Petite 

Force,  428. 
Carnavalet,  283,  328-329. 
Chevalier  du  Guet,  209. 
Clisson,  confiscated,  227    (Hotel 

Guise),  283. 
Cluny,  497;  begun  by  Jean   de 

Bourbon,  251 ;   columns  from 

Notre  Dame.  114. 

du  Conseil  d'Etat,  526. 
Conti  (GuL^n(?gaud),  site  of  Hotel 

des  Monnaies,  408,  445. 
Conti  (Petit),  incorporated  into 

1' Hotel  des  Monnaies,  446. 
d'Estrees,  526. 
Fieubet,  327,  507. 
La  Force,  site  of.  367. 
Guise  (Clisson),  283. 
d'Harcourt,  called  palace  of  Ju- 
lian the  Apostate,  251. 
Isabeau,  in  the  Palais  de  la  CM, 

039 
Invaiides,  5,  360-361,  401-403,  526- 

527. 
Julienne,  522. 
Lambert,  -519. 
Lassai,  525. 

Lauzan,  or  Pimodan,  519. 
Ligneris,  283. 
Longueville,   410;    demolished, 

413. 
Melu/.ine,  419. 
Monnaies,  445-446. 
Montmorency,  283,  508. 
Nesle,   early    history,   176;   253, 

293-295. 
Nesle  (on  the  right  bank),  281. 
Ninon  de  Lenclos,  508. 
d'Ormesson.  508. 
St.  Paul,  alienated,  223,  284-2&5 ; 

ballet  des  Ardents,  246  ;  Charles 

VI.  at  the,  214,  222  ;  created  by 

Charles  V.,  221, 222  ;  menagerie 

of  the,  211. 
Penthievre.  511. 
Prev6t6,  508. 


Kichelieu,  338. 

Roi  de  Sicile.  181 ;  becomes  La 

Force,  427-428. 
Rostaing,  367. 
Sens,  507. 
Sillerv,  408. 
Soi.ssons,  426-427. 
Soubise,    381,   428-429;    becomes 

Museum  of  Archives,  489. 
Strasbourg,  381,  429-430  ;  becomes 

Museum  of  Archives,  489. 
Sully,  309,  508. 

Tournelles,  built  by  Charles  V., 
224  ;  Duke  of  Bedford  in  the, 
225;   in  the  sixteenth  century, 
283-284  ;   Louis  XI.   and  Louis 
XII.  at  the,  220.  225  ;   Louise  of 
Savoy,  278;    Silk   Factory   of 
Henry  IV.,  308. 
Turenne,  381. 
des  Ursins,  110. 
Hotel  de  Ville,  continuity  of  its  his- 
torj',  24  ;  Communards  of  1871,  506  ; 
English  occupation,  204;  early  his- 
tory,  137-138;    entertainment,  the 
first  royal,  207;   Etienne  Marcel's 
time,  and   after,    202-203 ;    under 
Francis  I.,  Henrv  II„  Henrv  III., 
260-266  ;  under  Henry  IV.,  312-313  ; 
Louis    XL  and   Louis    XII.,   205- 
206;  Louis  XIV.,  362-3G3,  364-365; 
as  Maison   aux  Fillers,  201 ;    ori- 
gins, 136-137,  196  ;    present  build- 
ing, 12,  506-507  ;  proposal  to  move 
it,    407-408;  from  1789  to  1815,  450- 
462  ;  1837  to  1867,  505  ;  in  the  Revo- 
lution of  1830,  504-505  ;  of  1848,  .505  ; 
of  1870,  .506  ;  site  of  the  first,  110. 
Hotel  de  Ville  du  roi  Pepin,  112. 
Villequier.  410. 
Vitry,  283. 

Zamet,  Sebastien,  309. 
Hubert.  Treasurer  of  the  order  builds 

the  Temple  Tower,  179. 
Hugh,  Abbot,  101. 

Hugo,Victor,buried  in  the  Pantheon, 

520  ;  Les  Mise^rables,  468  ;  railing  of 

the  Place  des  Vosges,  331-332  ;  view 

of  Paris  by  night,  256. 

Huguenin,  and  the  Insurrectionary 

Commune,  453,  4.54. 
Huguenots,  accused  of  blowing  up 
the  Arsenal,  286;  in  the  Faubourg 
St.  Germain,  295. 
Humbert,  Dauphin  of  Vienne,  leaves 

his  estate  to  Philip  VI.,  201. 
Hungary,  Clemence  of,  and  the  Mai- 
son aux  Piliers,  201. 

He  de  la  Bievre,  522. 

Citt\  before  the  Roman  Inva- 
sion, 47-48,  51-52,  59  ;  in  Chil- 
peric's  time,  97  ;  eleventh  cen- 
turv,  120-122  ;  nineteenth  cen- 
tury, 516-518;  in  Gallo-Roman 


INDEX. 


543 


times,  108 ;  under  Henry  IV., 
316-318 ;  under    Louis    XIV., 
389-392;  relation  to  the  rest  of 
Paris,  47. 
St.  Denis,  143. 
de  GalilC'e,  72. 
St.    Louis,    518-519 ;    unchanged 

condition,  322. 
Louviers,  509. 
Notre  Dame,  355. 
de  Treilles,  181. 
aux  Vaches,  177,  519. 
Islands  of  the  Seine,  121-122. 
Infanta,  at  the  Louvre,  409. 
Innocent  III.,  Pope,  6. 
Innocents,  the  Holy,  oath  of  Louis 

VII.,  182. 
Inquiry,   Chamber   of,   established, 

156-157. 
Institut  de  France,  College  Maza- 
rin,  or  des  Quatre  Nations,  398-401. 
Intrigues  des  Filoux  by  rEstoile,353. 
Invalides,  defenders  of  the  Bastille 
hung  from  lamp  on  the  Greve,  462. 
Invasions,  the  Barbarian,  90-91,  99- 

100. 
Isabella  of  Bavaria,  181 ;  Concierge 
du  Palais,  239  ;  death  and  burial, 
222  ;  H6tel  de  Nesle,  254  ;  marriage, 
238  ;  Sainte  Chapelle,  238. 
Italy  in  the  sixteenth  century,  258- 

259. 
Ivry,  Contant  d',  at  the  Palais  Royal, 
420-421,422;  at  the  Madeleine, 
482. 
the  victory  of,  301. 

Jacob,  P6re,  the  bibliographer,  384. 
.Tacobin  Constitution,  498. 
Jacqueline,  the  great  bell  of  Notre 

Dame,  246. 
Jaillot,    Recherches    sur  Paris,  by, 

377. 
Jansenist  controversy,  395,  437. 
James  II.  of  England,  his  brains  at 

College  Ecossais,  499-500. 
Jardin  du  Bailliage,289,317. 
de  rinfanta  (Louvre),  409. 
du  Palais  in  the  thirteenth  cen- 
tury, 149. 
des  Plantes,  founded  under  Louis 

Xin.,355. 
of  the  First  President,  518. 
du  Terrain,  165, 355,  518. 
des  Tuilerieslaidoutby  Le  Notre, 
372. 
Jean,  posthumous  son  of  Louis  le 
Hutin,  146-147. 
d'Auxerre,  Maison  aux  Piliers, 

202. 
le    Bon.   Hotel   de    Ne.sle,   253 ; 
holds  first  lit  de  Justice,  236  ;  at 

Poitiers,  198. 
de  Brienne,  King  of  Jerusalem, 
the  Crown  of  Thorns,  151. 


le  Hardi,  execution  of,  205. 
Sans  Peur,  Donjon  of,  510 ;  H6- 
tel  d'Armagnac,  230. 
Jeanne  d'Arc,  attacks  Paris,  231-233  ; 
wounded,  200,  234,  a  false,  240. 
d'Evreux,  wife  of  Charles  le  Bel, 
147,  253. 
Jeoffry,  son  of  Henrj'  II.  of  England, 

buried  at  Notre  Dame,  160. 
Jerome,  Prince,  at  the  Palais  Royal, 

511. 
Jerusalem,    Patriarch  of,   at  Notre 

Dame,  160. 
Jesuits,  increase  in  power,  396-897. 
Jeusneur,  le  Grand,  354-355. 
Jews  expelled  by  Philip-Augustus, 

Jodelle,  account  of  entertainment  at 

the  Hotel  de  Ville,  204-265. 
John,  St.,  fire  lighted  on  the  Greve 
on  eve  of.  205. 
Knights  of,  or  of  Rhodes,  181 ,  225. 
Joinville,  describes  St.  Louis,  150; 
describes  Paris,  134-135. 
Prince    de,    brings    Napoleon's 
body  to  Paris,  526. 
Joseph,  Pere,  381-382,  524. 
Josephine,  divorce,  481 ;  marriage, 

481. 
Journee  des  Barricades,  276-277,  282, 

286. 
Jour  des  Sections,  479. 
Journal     d'un     Bourgeois,     under 
Charles  VI.  and  Charles  VII., 
allusion   to   Brother   Richard 
Chev.  du  Guet,  209-210  ;  Dause 
Macabre,    228 ;    drowning    of 
prisoners,  204. 
des  Dames,  486. 

de  la  Republique,  Marat's  paper, 

454,472. 

Julian  the  Apostate,  6  ;  and  Lutetia, 

63-64  ;  proclaimed  Emperor  by  the 

soldiers,  63-64, 108. 

Julienne,     superintendent    of    the 

Gobelins,  522. 
Jupiter,  altar  of  the  Nautae  to,  61,  68, 

110,114,  391. 
Jurisprudence,  study  introduced  into 
law  schools,  394-395. 

King  of  the  Basoche,  241. 

of  Naples,  visits  Palais  Royal,  510. 
title  given  to  lords  of  the  Duchy 
of  France,  117. 
King's    Corner,    of    the    Place    de 

Greve,  462-463. 
Kings  of  France,  series  of  portrait 

statues  of,  155,  240. 
Krantz,    Martin,    one    of    the    first 
printers  of  Paris,  250-251. 

Labienus,  attacks  Parisii,  45;  inva- 
sion of  Gaul,  60  ;  transports  army 
to  Lutetia  by  water,  57. 


544 


INDEX. 


La  Fayette,  Marquis  de,  burned  in 
effig[y,  485  ;  Commandant  of  Garde 
Nationale,  450-iol ;  escorts  King 
from  Versailles,  451 ;  refuses  arms 
to  mob, 452;  Revolution  of  1830, 505. 
La  Fontaine,  buried  at  the  Holy  In- 
nocents, 380. 
Lallemand,  M.  Pierre  de,  Descartes' 

funeral  oration,  396. 
Lally-Tollendal,  speech  at  I'Hotelde 

Ville,  451. 
Lamartine,  name  for  England,  36; 

Revolution  of  1848,  505. 
Lamballe,   Princesse  de,  511 ;  mur- 
dered at  La  Force,  487,  489. 
Lamoignon,  First  President,  Palais 

de  la  Cite,  384. 
Lamp  at  corner  of  Place  de  Gr6ve, 

365,  453. 
Lancaster,  House  of,  and  the  Eng- 
lish wars,  197. 
Lanchenu,  portal  of  St.   Pierre  des 

Arcis,  390. 
Lance,  the  Holy,  8,151. 
Landry,  St.,  oratory,  58. 

St.,  Port.  46,  and  footnote,  58,  111. 
Langue  d'oil,  93. 
La  Porte,  childhood  of  Louis  XIV., 

340. 
Launav,  M.  de,  opens  law  schools  in 
French,  394-395. 
de,  Gov.  of  Bastille,  464,  465,  466  ; 
murdered  at  I'Hotel  de  Ville, 
462. 
La  Voisin,  execution  of,  364. 
Law,  Richard,  indignation  against, 
416-417. 
courts  of  the  Palais,  242. 
schools,  248,  394-395. 
Learning,   development   of  in   the 

twelfth  century,  131-132. 
Lebas   shoots   himself  on   the   9th 

Thermidor,  459. 
Le  Beuf,  Abbt?,  Teutonic  origin  of 

names,  113. 
Lebreton,  ]\Ime.,   accompanies  the 

Empress  Eugenie,  513-514. 
Lebrun,  Charles,  painter,  at  the  Gob- 
elins, 393,  521-522  ;  at  the  Tuil- 
eries,    371 ;    sketch    of    Mme. 
Brinvilliers,  364. 
Third  Consul,  in  the  Pavilion  de 

Flore,  480. 
Minister,  arrested,  456. 
Lecomte,  statues  at  Palais  de  Jus- 
tice, 441. 
Leczynska,  Marie,  Foundling   Hos- 
pital, 433. 
Leduc,  Gabriel,  St.  Denis  de  la  Char- 

tre,  389. 
Lefebre,  Abb5,  at  I'Hotel  de  Ville, 
452. 
Antoine,  Pri5v6t  des  Marchands, 
362. 
Lefuel,  Louvre  and  Tuileries,  512. 


Le  Mercier,  J.,  death,  366;  Louvre, 

344-346,  347,  370  ;  Palais  Royal,  335  ; 

St.  Roch,  479;  the  Sorbonne,  355- 

356  ;  Val  de  Grace,  445. 

Le  Muet,  Val  de  Grace,  445. 

Lemoine,  Cardinal,  founds  a  college, 

172. 
Le  Notre,  the  Tuileries  garden,  372. 
Le  Pelletier  de  St.  Fargeau,  assas- 
sination of,  484-485;  buried  in 
the  Pantheon,  496. 
Michel,   Pr^vot  des  Marchands, 
363. 
Lescot,    Pierre,   Hotel    Carnavalet, 
283,  328;  death,  277;   fountain  in 
Marche      aux      Innocents,     282 ; 
Louvre,  271,  272,  277,  345,  347. 
Le  Van,  buildings  on  I'lle  St.  Louis, 
519;  College  Mazarin,  399-400;  death, 
368  ;  Louvre,  366-368  ;  Tuileries,  371. 
Lists,  at  the  Louvre,  146  ;  of  the  Rue 

St.  Antoine,  284. 
Little  John,  Louis  XL's  executioner, 

205. 
Livio,  Prince,  pictures  bought  for  the 

Regent,  376. 
Lorraine,  Due  de,  marries  daughter 
of  Henry  II.,  273. 
Princes,  acquire  Hotel  de  Guise, 
283. 
Losme-Salbray,  M.  de,  murdered  at 

Hotel  de  Ville,  462. 
Louis  VI.,  le  Gros,  character,  200; 
and  the  canons  of  St.  Nicolas, 
143 ;  repairs  Notre  Dame,  160. 
VII.,  le  Jeune,  favorite  oath,  182  ; 
Grand  Chsitelet,  112 ;  at  clois- 
ters of  Notre  Dame,  165;  mar- 
ries Alix  of  Champagne  (third 
wife),  162-163  ;  oratories  of  the 
Palais,  148  ;  and  the  Templars, 
180. 
VIII.,  and  the  Louvre,  144. 
IX.,  Saint,  allegiance  of  Henry 
III.  of  England,  153  ;  les  Bons 
Enfants,  184;  Carmelites,  173, 
178;  character,  133,  134-135; 
Grand  Chatelet,  138;  Corde- 
liers, 171 ;  Crusades,  151-152, 
153  ;  expenditures,  145  ;  Holy 
Relics,  151,  153;  Hotel  Dieu, 
164 ;  inherits  firmly-established 
sovereignty,  194 ;  Louvre,  144- 
145  ;  Notre  Dame,  161-162,  163 ; 
Palais  de  la  CitL\  23,  149-153, 
242  ;  Sainte  Chapelle,  8, 151-153  ; 
Sorbonne,  171 ;  unity  of  France 
under,  197. 
X.,  le  Hutiu,  execution  of  wife's 
lover,  137  ;  knighted,  156;  and 
the  Parliament,  156-157. 
XL,  alienation  of  Hotel  St.  Paul, 
223;  the  Basoche,  240;  the 
Bourgeois,  205  ;  execution  of 
M.  de  St.  Pol,  205;  financial 


INDEX. 


545 


features  of  reign,  206;  les  In- 
valides,  402  ;  madness,  188, 191 ; 
municipalitv  and  militia,  220  ; 
Palais  de  la  Cite,  241-242  ;  Paris 
faithful  to,  30  ;  the  Parliament, 
241 ;  Pragmatic  sanction,  241  ; 
property  of  Constable  d'Ar- 
magnac,  230-231  ;  Ste.  Chapelle 
oratories,  242  :  soldiers  surren- 
der Bastille,  220;  at  the  Tour- 
nelles,  225  ;  veneration  for  St. 
Louis,  241-242. 

XII.  and  the  Bourgeois,  206-207; 
cedes  Parloir  aux  Bourgeois, 
250 ;  Chambre  des  Comptes, 
243  ;  death,  22r),  255  ;  demands 
for  money,  206 :  entertains 
Archduke  of  Austria,  206 ; 
Fra  Giovanni  Gioconda,  242 ; 
Grand'  Chambre,  242-243  ;  Pont 
Notre  Dame,  244-245 ;  at  the 
Tournelles,  225. 

XIII.,  birth,  303;  death,  346; 
Commandery  of  St.  Louis  (les 
Invalides),  402;  Gr&ve,  323; 
Louvre,  344-;^46  ;  statue  in  PI. 
Royale  (des  Vosges),  330-1^31 ; 
statue  of  Henry  IV.,  316;  Tri- 
bunal of  the  Arsenal,  327-328; 
vow,  354. 

XIV.,  le  Grand  roi,  and  the 
academies,  368-;W0;  bust  on  PI. 
de  Greve  (le  coin  du  roi),  365, 
462 ;  childhood  at  Palais  Royal, 
340;  and  Colbert,  378;  Des- 
cartes' funeral  oration,  396 ; 
exhibited  in  bed,  342-343;  les 
Invalides,  401-402  ;  the  Louvre, 
346-347,  366-368  ;  and  the  Parlia- 
ment, 1586  ;  state  entry,  390-.391, 
508 ;  statues  at  Hotel  de  Ville, 
365;  at  PI.  des  Conqudtes  (PI. 
Vend6me),  373 ;  at  PI.  des  Vic- 
toires,  373-374;  study  of  juris- 
prudence introduced,  394-395  ; 
triumphal  arch,  392  ;  the  Tuil- 
eries,  ;W0-372  ;  will,  387-388. 

XV.,  first  and  last  lits  de  Justice 
beld  by,  389,  438  ;  illness  and 
recovery  at  Metz,  407-408,  443 ; 
the  Louvre,  409-413. 

XVI.,  le  bonnet  rouge,  476-477  ; 
constituent  assembly,  475-476 ; 
execution,  478:  at  Hotel  de 
Ville,  July,  '89,  451  ;  Oct.,  453 ; 
octroi  wall  of  446,  519  ;  prison 
reforms,  427-428;  at  the  Temple, 
487;  trial,  477. 

Philippe,  Arc  de  Triomphe,  482, 
516  ;  at  Hotel  de  Ville,  504-505  ; 
at  Palais  Royal,  510. 
Loustalot,  attack  on  Abbave  Prison, 

501. 
Louvre,    186;    bakery,    183;    block 
house  on  site  of,  122  ;  captaincy. 


145;  "children  of  the,"  147  ;  con- 
tinuity of  its  history,  24  ;  in  Con- 
sulate, 473  ;  in  First  Empire,  473- 
474  ;  fire  of  1661,  346,  348-349  ;  fired 
by  Communards,  514 ;  to  four- 
teenth century  (middle),  141-147  ; 
under  Francis"  I.,  Henry  II.  and 
III.,  269-277,  284;  under  Henry 
IV.,  :^04-307:  under  Louis  XIV., 
346-347.  366-368 ;  under  Louis  XV. 
and  Regency,  409-413 ;  origin  of 
the  name,  113;  of  Philip-Augus- 
tus, 133,  142,  212,  242,  271,  276 
Philip  VI.  to  Charles  VIII.,  210-216 
princes  of  the  blood  and  the,  146 
tower  used  for  prison  and  treasury, 
146;  proposal  to  pull  it  down,  409- 
410;  rank  of  Gov.  of  the,  145;  un- 
der the  Restoration,  511 ;  in  the 
Revolution,  470-472  ;  Richelieu  and 
the,  344-346  ;  joined  to  Tuileries  un- 
der Napoleon  III.,  511-512  ;  vassals 
of  the  crown,  144  ;  Voltaire's  stro- 
phes, 412. 

Loyola,  Ignatius  and  St.  Francis 
Xavier,  248. 

LucotetJus,  Mens,  6, 14, 118. 

Lutetia,  Caesar's  connection  with,  60. 
derivation  and  spelling  of  the 
name,  55 ;  description  of  the 
Roman  city,  70-73 ;  Julian  the 
Apostate  and,  63-64 :  a  Vectigal 
city,  60. 

Lutriu  by  Boileau ,  353. 

Luvois,  Place  Vendome,  372-373. 

Lyc6e  Henri  IV.,  418. 
Louis  le  Grand,  169. 
St.  Louis,  171. 

Machines,  Salle  des,  371-372 ;  Com(5die 
Franvaise  In  the,  414-415;  used  by 
the  Convention,  449,  477,  480  ;  Souf- 
flot's  restorations,  414  ;  "  Theatre  de 
Monsieur,"  415  ;  Voltaire's  celebra- 
tion, 415. 

Macon,  follower  of  Etienne  Marcel, 
203. 

Maclaurin,  St.  Sulpice,  445. 

Madonna  of  the  Orlt?ans,  Raphael, 
376. 

Maihows,  Dr.,  the  Regent's  pictures, 
376. 

Mail,  Castle  de,  113. 
Promenade  du,  311. 

Mail  lard,  Jean,  deserts  Etienne  Mar- 
cel, 217. 

Maillotin  riots,  203;  fortifications 
built  after  the,  234-235. 

Maine,  Due  de,  son  of  Louis  XIV., 
Grand  Master,  and  Cellamare's 
Plot,  431  :  the  Regency,  388. 
Duchess  de.  Portrait  by  Vanloo, 
329. 

Maintenon,  Mme.  de,  will  of  Louis 
XIV.,  388,  389. 


35 


546 


INDEX. 


Mairie  of  the  Rue  de  Jerusalem,  448, 

456. 
Malson,  du  Paradis,  158. 

aux  Fillers,  early  history,  136, 
137-188, 201 ;  becomes  Meson  de 
la  Ville,  202 ;    under  Etienne 
Marcel.  196. 
de  Franfois  I.,  515. 
Julienne,  522. 
Maisons,  M.  de,  Louis  XIV.'s  will, 

388. 
Malet,  Gen.,  plot  of,  461-462. 
"  Mallus,"  of  the  Teutonic  tribes,  86. 
Malherbe,    lie    de   la    Citi?,   under 
Henry  IV.,  316-317. 
Pont  Neuf  pumps,  315. 
Tuileries,  307. 
Mansard,   Francois,  Hotel  Carnava- 
let,  329  ;  Hotel  Mazarin,  339  ; 
Hotel  Penthievre,511 ;  Church 
of  Val  de  Grace,  445. 
J.  H.  PI.  des  Conquetes  (PI.  Ven- 
dome),  373  ;  les  Invalides,  402- 
403 ;   Hotel  of  Ninon  de  Len- 
clos.  508  :  Palais  Royal ,  375. 
Maudat,  M.  de,  hearings  before  the 
two  Communes,  453-454  ;  shot,  454. 
Man  with  the    iron  mask,  326-327; 

buried  at  St.  Paul's,  468. 
Manege,  of  the  Rue  St.  Honor<5, 12, 

475-477. 
Manuel,  aids  Mme.  de  Stael,  455. 
Marat,  body  taken  to  the  Pantheon, 
496 ;  bust  at  the  Louvre,  472  ;  fune- 
ral at  the  Tuileries,  477  ;  at  the  Ho- 
tel de  Ville,  454,  456;  Louvre  print- 
ing presses,  472. 
Marceau,    Faubourg   St.,   origin  of 

name,  70. 
Marcel,  Etienne,  Dauphin's  cap,  236, 
477  ;  liisend,  217-218  ;  and  Hotel 
de  Ville,  202-203:   and  Louvre, 
212  ;  negotiates  with  the  Dau- 
phin, 211 ;    Revolution  of,  196  ; 
wall,  called  "  of  Charles  V.," 
216-217. 
Gamier,  Celestiu  Convent,  223. 
St.,    birthplace,  158;  Bourg,  70; 
Chapel,  158-159  ;  house  of  the 
image  of  (and  Ste.  Genevieve), 
158.' 
Marchand,  Guillaume,  Pont  Neuf, 

290,  313. 
Marche,  aux  Fleurs,  518. 
Innocents,  282. 
Neuf,  159,  292. 
Marehiali,  M.  de  (man  with  the  iron 

mask),  327. 
Marie,  Antoinette,  the  Conciergerie, 
487,  492  ;  at  Hotel  de  Ville,  452- 
453  ;  before  the  Tribunal,  491. 
Louise,    flight,    481 ;    marriage, 
481. 
Marigney,  Engurrand  de,  Palais  de 
la  Cit(5, 153-156 ;  statue,  155-156. 


Marigny,  M.  de.  Marquis  de  Vandi- 
ere.  Superintendent  of  buildings, 
412. 
Marino,  in  charge  of  Luxembourg 

Pri.son,  522-523. 
Mars  and  Mercury,  temples  to,  73. 
Martin,  St.,  feast  of  the  translation 
of,  145. 
Histoire  de  France,  403. 
Mary  of  England,  3d  wife  of  Louis 
XII.,  207,  260  ;  at  Hotel  de  Ville, 
207  ;  at  les  Tournelles,  225. 
Mass,  the  Red,  at  the  Palais,  158. 
Massacre  of  Arraagnacs,  219;  of  St. 
Bartholomew,  40,  140,  259,  275;  of 
prisoners  at  Petit  Chatelet,  247  ;  at 
St.  Firmin,  499. 
Massacres,  the  September,  at  the  Ab- 
baye,  465-456  and  footnote,  487-489, 
501;  at  the  Grand  Chatelet,  470;  at 
the  Palais  de  la  Cite,  490-491. 
Mauconseil,  the  petition  of,  453. 
Mayenne,  Due  de,  siege  of  Paris  by 

Henry  IV.,  301. 
Mayors  of  the  Palais,  87,  88,  97. 
Mazarin.  Cardinal,  body  placed  in 
college  chapel,  401 ;  builds  Ho- 
tel, 339-:«0;  college  founded 
by,  3;39,  398-399;  death,  349; 
flight,  342  ;  last  illness,  397-1398 ; 
library,  339 ;  at  the  Louvre,  348- 
349. 
Due  de,  400-401. 
M^dan,  font  from  St.  Paul's  at,  223. 
Medicis,  Catherine  de,  259 ;  asks  for 
money  to  fight  the  Huguenots, 
265  ;  carving  at  Louvre  of,  288  ; 
column  of,  281 ;  death  predict- 
ed, 280 ;  apartments  at  the 
Louvre,  274  ;  Grande  Galerie, 
277 ;  Grande  and  Petite  Gale- 
ries  and  quadrangle  of  the 
Louvre,  305,  30C\  ;W7  ;  marriage 
arranged,  262-263 ;  monument 
in  Celestiu  Church,  469 ;  Palais 
de  la  Reine,  280-281 ;  Palais  des 
Tournelles,  284;  Palais  des 
Tuileries,  259-260,  280  ;  precau- 
tions after  the  death  of  Charles 
IX.,  276;  taste  for  astrology, 
281. 
Marie  de,  appointed  Regent,  303  ; 
arrival  at  Louvre,  304 ;  bust, 
524  ;  College  de  France,  319 ; 
Gabrielle  d'EstrCes'  initials, 
305  ;  Luxembourg,  356  ;  portrait 
.'saved,  348 ;  Queen  of  France, 
303;  scenes  from  her  life  by 
Rubens  523  ;  statue  of  Henry 
IV  ,315-316. 
Meillerae,  Due  de  la,  at  the  Arsenal, 

329. 
Mehin,  Melodunum,  57. 
Menagerie,  the  royal,  211. 
Menil-Montant,  stream  of,  68. 


INDEX. 


547 


Mercatores,  Aquse  Parisiaci,  an  as- 
sociation of  tlie  time  of  Louis  le 
Gros,  57. 

Mercerie  du  Palais,  Galerie  Mar- 
ctiande.or  Mercier6, 155-156. 

Merovingian  buiklings  in  Paris,  114- 
117;  dynasty,    characteristics, 
95. 
kings,  buried  in  SS.  Vincent  and 

Croix,  116  ;  tlie  last,  87. 
tombs  at  St.  Germain  des  Prfe, 
368-359,  502. 

INIesme,  1st  President  du,  will  of 
Louis  ii  I  v.,  .388. 

l\Ietz,  Guilbert  de,  describes  Pont 
Notre  Dame,  243. 

Michel,  St..  chapel  in  the  Palais,  109. 

Michelet,  Flamboyant  architecture, 
192  ;  "la  France,"  etc.,  26  ;  mysti- 
cism of  the  Dark  Ages,  78. 

Middle  Ages,  characteristics,  76  ;  di- 
visions, 74-75 ;  period  called  the, 
12.5-127. 

Militia,  Louis  XL,  reliance  upon, 
220. 

Millennium,  King  Robert  and  the, 
140 ;  turning-point  of  the  Middle 
Ages,  75. 

Mint,  the  Royal,  346. 

Mirabeau,  12 ;  body  taken  to  Ste. 
Genevieve  (the  Pantheon),  495  ;  re- 
moved, 496 ;  and  the  English 
Whigs,  36  ;  "  Paris  is  a  Sphinx," 
etc.,  42. 

Mirame,  Richelieu's  play,  313. 

Misopogon,  108. 

Mohrier,  Simon  de,  231,  233. 

Molay,  Jacques  de.  Grand  Master  of 
the  Templars,  180;  burned,  181. 

Moliere.  death  of,  344 ;  house  he  died 
in,  ;:;38 ;  Le  Malade  Imaginaire, 
.338  :  Les  Prt5cieuses  Ridicules,  331 ; 
Tartuffe,  405;  theatre,  on  Rue 
Gucnogaud,  401  ;  of  Palais  Roj-al, 
343-344;  turned  out  of  Theatre 
Bourbon,  347-348. 

Montague,  Jean  de,  great  bell  Jac- 
queline, 246. 

Montaigne's  publisher,  288. 

Montereau,  Pierre  de,  Sainte  Cha- 
pelle,  152:  Refectory  and  Lady 
Chapel  of  St.  Germain  des  Pr(?s, 
174. 

Montesson,  Marquise  de,  marriage 
with  Due  d'Ork^ans,  422-423. 

Montferrand,  Sire  de,  tower,  143. 

iSIimtfort,  Simon  de,  and  Philip  of 
Valois,  211. 

Miint  Ste.  Genevieve,  168. 

Montgomery,  Sire  de,  confined  in 
tdwer  of  the  (V)nciergerie,  288 ;  fa- 
tally wounds  Henrv  IL,  2S4. 

.Montmartre,  13-14,  50,  68;  Otto's 
army  chant  the  Te  Deum  on, 
107. 


Montmorency,  Constable  Anne  de, 
death,  283  ;  monument  in  Ce- 
lestin  Church,  469. 
Matthieu  de,  and  St.  Denis,  143. 
Montpensier,    Mile,    de    (la  Grande 
Mademoiselle)  at  the  Bastille,  324; 
sent  to  the  Tuileries  by  Richelieu. 
349-350. 
Montreuil,  Eudes  de,  152. 
Monsabert.  de,  arrest  of,  490. 
Mens,  Citardus,  69-70. 
Lucotetius,  49,  55. 
Martis,  72,  73. 
Mons-en-Puelle,  victory  of,  163,  173. 
Moraud,  Jerome,  Ste.  Chapelle  under 

Charles  VI.,  239. 
Morgue,  518  ;  moved  to  Marchi?  Neuf, 

470  ;  origin  of  the  name,  208 
Moreau,  Constant,  and  the  Fronde, 
353. 
the  architect,  Palais  Royal,  421, 
422. 
Moret,  Jean  and  Robert,  forced  to 

pull  down  their  tower,  143. 
Motteville,  Mme.  de,  343. 
Municipality,  Parloiraux  Bourgeois, 
210  ;    reorganized    under   Charles 
VII.,  204-205  ;  Louis  XL  and  the, 
220. 
Murat  Prince,  in  the  Elys^e  Palace, 

515. 
Mus^e  de  Cluny,  497  ;  remains  of  the 
Thermes  in  the,  64-65. 
de  St.  Germain  en  Laye,  53. 
of  paintings  of  living  artists,  524. 
de  Puytren,  le   Cordeliers.  449, 

494. 
de  la  Ville  (Hotel   Carnavalet), 
329. 
Mysticism,  advance  of  in  the  Dark 
Ages,  77-78 

Nantes,  the  Edict  of,  302. 

Napoleon  I.,  act  of  abdication  (2d) 
515;  attempt  to  blow  him  up,  480 
body  brought  to  the  Invalides,  526 
527  ;    Column    Vendome,  478-479 
Coronation,  481,487,  493  ;  fetes,  461 
the  Council  of  Ancients,  479-480 
divorce,  461.  481  ;  fight  in  the  Rue 
St.  Honors,  479 ;  fountain  for  Place 
Bastille,  467-468;  influence  on  as- 
pect of  Paris,  11-12 ;  at  the  Luxem- 
bourg, 523;  marriages,  481;  plans 
for  rebuilding  Hotel  de  Ville,  462  ; 
reopens  the  Sorbonne,  520;  restora- 
tion of  the  Louvre,  473-474  ;  tomb, 
.526-527  ;  at  the  Tuileries,  480-481. 

Napoleon  III.,  les  Halles  Centraes, 
509  ;  love  of  building,  ,503  ;  at  the 
Pantheon,  520;  at  the  Tuileries, 
511-513. 

National  Assembly,  constituted,  474. 

Natoire,  Foundling  Hospital,  decora- 
tions, 433. 


548 


INDEX. 


Nautae,  College  of  the,  110-111. 

Parisiaci,  erect  an  altar  to  Jupi- 
ter, 61,  68,  110,  114,  391  ;  early 
history  and  origin  of  the,  57-58  ; 
and  Palais  des  Thermes,  66-67  ; 
in  reign  of  Tiberius,  01 
Navarre,  Charles  the  Bad,  King  of, 
217  ;  claim  to  the  throne,  195  ; 
sentenced  by  King  John,  236. 
Jeanne  de,  founds  College,  173. 
Marguerite  de.  Hospital  of  the 
Enfants  Dieu,  28J-2S3. 
Necker,  bust   carried    through    the 
streets,  450  ;  news  of  his  dismissal, 
450,  483-484  ;  prison  reforms,  427-428. 
Nemours,  Pierre  de,  Bishop  of  Paris, 

182. 
Neufville,  en  Haye,  wood  from  the 
forest  of,  279. 
Seigneurs  de,  inherit  site  of  the 
Tuileries,  277-278. 
Nesle,  S^jour  de,  253-254. 
Nicolas,  St.,  oratory  in  the  Palais, 

148. 
Nigra,  Chev.  de,  flight  of  the  Em- 
press Eugenie,  513  514. 
Ninon,  de  Lenclos,    331 ;  and    Vol- 
taire, 508. 
Norman  conquest  of  Calabria,  75-76. 
Fortress,  139. 

invasions,  damage  Notre  Dame, 
160. 
Normandy,  Marshal  of,  murdered, 

202,  236. 
Northmen,  siege  of  Paris  by  the,  66, 

92,  100-107. 
Notaries,  chapel  and  society  found- 
ed, 138. 
Notre  Dame  des  Champs,  quarrv  of, 

278. 
Noue,  canal  called,  la,  175,  176. 
Nouveau  Mercure,  fetes  at  the  Tuile- 
ries under  Louis  XV.,  414. 
Numbering  of  houses,  in   the  six- 
teenth century,  245. 

Observatory  of  Paris,  ancestor  of  the, 
251 ;  founded  by  Louis  XIV.,  393- 
394. 
Odin,"  the  sons  of,  98. 
Odo,  son  of  Robert  the  Strong,  98. 
Orbay,  d',  the  Tuileries,  371. 
Orberie.   the  Grande,  159 ;  becomes 

the  Marche  Neuf.  291-292. 
Orcagna,  Triumph  of  Death  by,  228. 
Ordonnance  de  Blois,  248. 
Organs  first  mentioned  in  Ste.  Cha- 

pelle  under  Charles  VIII.,  242. 
Orgemont,  Pierre,  Chancellor,  224. 
Oribasius,  edits  Galen's  works,  63. 
Orl<?ans  Chapel  in  Celestin  Church, 
469. 
Louis  Due  d',  son  of  Charles  V., 
goes  barefoot  to  Notre  Dame, 
246 ;  muidered,  229. 


Philip  d',  brother  of  Louis  XIV 
childhood,  340  ;  marriage,  374  ; 
work  on  the  Palais  Royal,  374- 
37.1. 
Philippe  Due  d',  Regent, at  Palais 
Royal,   his    picture.-,    375-377 ; 
sets  aside  Louis  XlV.'s  will, 
388-389. 
Philippe  Louis,  son  of  the  Re- 
gent, 417-418. 
Louis  Philippe,  Due  d',  father  of 
Pliilip    Egalite,  marries    Mar- 
quise de  Montesson,  422-423. 
Philippe  (Egalite),  bust  carried 
through       the     streets,      4,50; 
changes  at  Palais  Royal,  422- 
426  ;  execution,  485  ;  marriage, 
422  ;  results  of  his  policy  at  the 
Palais  Royal,  483. 
Louis  Philippe  Due  d',  regains 

Palais  Royal,  510. 
Jean  d',  Danse  Macabre,  228. 
and  Poitiers,  schools  of  civil  law, 
248. 
Otto  Emperor,  army  chants  the  Te 

Deum  on  Montmaftre,  107. 
Oubliettes  of  the  Palais,  237-238. 
Ovens,  public,  in  tvvelfth  and  thir- 
teenth centuries.  139-140. 
Oxford,  Balliol.  new  buildings,  22. 
Opera  of  the  Palais  Royal,  421,425- 
426 :    proprietorship    ceded  to 
the  city  by  the  Due  d'  Orleans, 
418. 
House,  the  Grand,  12, 19,  511. 
Opstal,  Van,  Porte  St.  Antoine,  324. 

Pages  of  the  Louvre,  whipped  under 

Henry  III.,  273. 
Pajou,  work  at  Palais  de  la  Citt?  (de 
Justice),  441 ;  at  Palais  Royal,  421- 
422. 
Palaces  of  the  Marais,  384. 
Palais  Abbatial,  416. 
Archiepiscopal,  525. 
des  Arts  (Louvre).  473. 
Bourbon,  Chamber  of  Deputies, 

525. 
Brion,  374. 

de  la  Citi?,  7-8  ;  22-23,  186  ;  aban- 
doned as  a  residence,  147,  242 ; 
book-sellers  in  the,  287-288 ; 
fires  and  restorations  of  seven- 
teenth and  eighteenth  cen- 
turies, 300-352,  435-441 ;  history 
of  the  under  Romans.  Mero- 
vingians, Carlovingians  and 
early  Capetians,  108-109;  from 
Count  Eudes  to  Philippe  le 
Long,  121,  147-157:  to  Francis 
I.,  2:?5-243  :  under  Francis  I.. 
286-287 ;  Henrv  II.  and  Henry 
III.,  288-289;  'the  .seventeenth 
century,  384-386;  in  the  Revo- 
lution, 490-492 ;  nineteenth  cen- 


INDEX. 


549 


tury,  516-517  ;  on  night  follow- 
ing a  state  entry,  225  ;  origin, 
C9. 

de  rElys(?e,515. 

Episcopal,  built  by  Maurice  de 
Sully,  165,518. 

of  Julian  the  Apostate  (Hotel 
d'Harcourt),  25. 

du  Lt?geon  d'Honneur,  525-526. 

du  Louvre,  see  Louvre. 

du  Luxembourg,  356-357,  522-524. 

du  Luxembourg  (Petit),  523,  524. 

of  the  Minister  of  Foreign  Af- 
fairs, 525. 

of  the  Minister  of  War,  526. 

of  the  Priors,  333. 

de  Rambouillet,  231,  233,  331,  333. 

de  la  Reine  (Catherine  de  Mt'di- 
cis),  280-281. 

Royal  (Cardinal,  Egalitf?,  Tribu- 
nate), garden  and  theatre  built 
by  Richelieu,  333-343  ;  becomes 

Eroperty  of  the  Due  d'Anjou, 
is  additions,  374-375  ;  fire  of 
1763,  421;  under  the  Ork^ans, 
416-426  ;  under  Restoration  and 
Louis  Philippe,  .510 ;  in  the 
Revolution,  483-486  ;  Revolu- 
tions of  nineteenth  century, 511 

Salm  Kirbourg  (Lf'geon  d'Hon- 
neur), 525,  526. 

Savoisy,  curious  history,  226-227. 

des  Thermes,  acquired  by  Order 
of  Cluny,  251  ;  attributed  to 
Constantius  Chlorus,  62 ; 
carved  prow,  and  when  built, 
66,  66-67  ;  existing  remains,  64- 
66  ;  Julian  the  Apustate,  63.  66, 
108  ;  ruins  in  the  eleventh  cen- 
tury, 120. 

des  Tuileries,  259-260  ;  arrival  of 
royal  family  and  arrangements 
for,  474-475:  aspect  now,  18; 
attack  of  August  10th,  488  ;  be- 
gun by  Catherine  de  MOdicis, 
277-280  ;  comes  into  possession 
of  the  crown,  278  :  destroyed  : 
by  the  Communards,  514-515; 
flight  (jf  Eugenie,  513-514  ;  of 
Marie  Louise,  481  ;  Henry  III., 
279-280;  Henry  IV.,  307  ;  Louis 
XIII.  and  XIV.,  349-350,  370-372  ; 
Louis  XV.,  409,  413-414;  Louis 
Philippe,  511  ;  marriage  of  Mar- 
guerite de  Vaudremont,  279- 
280  ;  origin  of  the  name,  233- 
234;  visit  of  Peter  the  Great, 
414  ;  gardens,  280,  :372,  474. 
Tht-^atre    (Salle   des    Machines), 

414-415,  449,  477,  480. 
Trocadero,  19. 
Palatine,  Princess,  2d  wife  of  Due  d' 

A nj on.  375. 
Pdlis-sy,  Bernard,  Grotto  of  the  Tuil- 
eries, 280. 


]  Pandects,  discovery  of  the,  75,  130- 

131. 
!  Pantheon,  5-6,  7,  169,  443-444,  520. 

Pantomimes  first  played  in    Paris, 
!      372. 
Pare  de  Marguerite  de  Valois,  aliena- 
tion ,  357-358. 
I         des  Tournelles,  224. 
I  Paris  brothers,  build  H6tel  de  Force, 
427. 
Paris,  stabs  Le  Pelletier  de  St.  Far- 

geau,  484-485. 
Parisii,   allusions  in    Csesar's   Com- 
mentaries to,  56  ;  derivation  of  the 
name,  55    (footnote),  56;     driven 
south, 47;   Gaul isii  tribe.  43  ;  strug- 
gle with  the  Romans,  59-60. 
Parliament,  the,  confirms  Philip  V.'s 
regency,  2:55  ;  disapproves  of  revo- 
cation of  Pragmatic  sanction,  241 ; 
Jansenist  dispute,  437-438 ;  under 
Louis   XIV.,   361-362,    386,   387-388; 
under  Louis  XV.,  437-439  ;  massacre 
of  lawyers,  240;  Philippe  le   Sel 
and    his   sons,    156-157 ;    presided 
over  bv  Emperor  Sigismund,  238- 
239;  sittings  held  out  of  the  Palais, 
238 ;  sixty  members  taken  to  the 
Bastille,     286 ;     suppressed,    490 ; 
thirty  hours'  session,  490. 
Parloir  aux  Bourgeois,  210,  267  ;  ce- 
ded to  Jacobins,  250;  joined  to  H6- 
tel  de  Ville,  262. 
Parma,  Duke  of,  siege  of  Paris,  300. 
Parterre  de  Mile.,  349-a50,  474. 
Parvis   Notre  Dame,  17,  159, 163,  354, 

518. 
Passerat,    inscription   on    Tour    de 

I'Horloge,  289. 
Passy,  the  Heights  of,  50. 
Paulmy,  Marquis  de,  Arsenal  libra- 
ry, 329,  431-432. 
Peasantrv,  redeem  France,  200. 
Pelleterie  Hot  de  la,  518. 
Penthi^vre,  Due  de,  423,  511. 
Percier  and  Fontaine,  junction  of 

Louvre  and  Tuileries,  474. 
Perrault,  Charles,  367. 

Claude,  Great  Colonnade  of  the 
Louvre,  368  ;  the  observatory, 
393-.394. 
Perronet,  Pont  de  la  Concorde,  478. 
Pescolini,  Chev.,  the  statue  of  Henry 

IV.,  315-316. 
Peter  the  Great  at  the  Tuileries,  414. 
Petion,  Mayor,  454  ;  guillotined,  4,59. 
Petits  Champs,  281 ;  built  up,  334-3.35. 
Petit  Franfois,  Place  Dauphine,  313, 

317. 
Philip  II.,  Augustus,  or  the  Con- 
queror, accomplishment  for 
France  and  Paris,  1.32-133;  buys 
Maison  aux  Piliers,  136  ;  Crusade 
of  1190,  140  ;  expels  Jews,  158  ;  Holy 
Innocents    Cemetery,  182;    H6tel 


550 


INDEX. 


Dieu,  164:  Louvre  of,  141-1  ■14,  242, 
271 ;  Palais  de  la  Cit(?.  23,  148-150  ; 
Paris'  attitude  towards,  30  ;  policy 
with  bourgeois  and  nobles,  194 ; 
summons  John  of  England,  148 ; 
the  Templars.  180;  the  Tniversity, 
175;  wall  of,  140-141.  174-175,  183. 
Philippe  III.,  le  Hardi,  and  the  Tem- 
plars, 180. 
Philippe  IV.,  le  Bel,  assembles  .States 
General,  163;  the  Basoche,  240; 
burns  heretics,  137  ;  the  Carmelites, 
173 ;  character,  134, 13.3  :  the  clergy, 
156  :  despotism,  194  ;  buys  Hotel  de 
Nesle  and  builds  Qua{,  176,  253 ; 
Louvre,  14.5-146 ;  Maison  aux  Pil- 
lars, 137-138  ;  Palais  de  la  Cite,  23, 
153-157;  rides  into  Notre  Dame, 
163 ;  takes  refuge  in  the  Temple, 
180 ;  the  Templars,  180-181  ;  the 
University,  166. 
Philip  v.,  the  Long,  the  Carmelites, 
173;  knighted,  156:  Louvre  and 
the  Salic  Law,  146-147  :  Maison  aux 
Piliers,  138;  and  the  Parliament, 
156-157  ;  Regent,  235  :  succeeds  to 
crown,  147;  widow  at  Hotel  de 
Nesle.  176. 
Philip  of  Valois,  Regent  with  right 

of  succession,  210-211. 
Philip  II.,  of  Spain,  marriage  with 

daughter  of  Henry  II.,  284,  288. 
Pierre  des  Fosses,  monks  of  St.,  159. 
Piganiol,  de    la    Force,    les    Halles 

Centrales,  426-427. 
Pillory  of  Place  aux  Marchands,  229. 
Pilon  Germain,  Tour  de  I'Horloge, 

289. 
Pinel,  Philippe,  treatment  of  the  in- 
sane, 521. 
Piron's  verse  on  M.  Turgot,  436. 
Piscot.  11.3. 
Pistres  Fortress,  built  by  Charles  the 

Bald,  100. 
Pitou,  Ange,  472  and  footnote. 
Place  de  la  Bastille,  467-468,  509. 

du  Carrousel,  its  origin,  349-350; 

Marat's  monument,  477. 
de  la  Concorde  (Louis  XV.,  de 

la  Revolution),  478. 
Dauphine.  begun  by  Henry  IV., 

314-315,  317. 
de  I'Ecole,  139. 
de   France,  planned   by  Henry 

IV.,  308. 
de  laGreve,  .51-52;  corner-stone 
of  Hotel  de  Ville  laid,  263; 
English  occupation,  204 ;  Eti- 
enne  Marcel,  202;  executions, 
under  Louis  XL,  205  ;  in  four- 
teenth century,  137 :  under 
Louis  XIV.,  363-364  ;  hanging 
quai,  363  :  history  in  eleventh 
century,  122  ;  in  Charles  IV. 's 
reign,  266;  Louis  XIII.'s,  323; 


Louis  XIV.'s,  363-364  ;  Louis 
XV. 's,  407-409  ;  in  Middle  Ages, 
111 ;  origins  of  Hotel  de  Ville. 
136-137  ;  in  the  Revolution.  450- 
464;  in  the  Revolutions  of  the 
nineteenth  century,  504.  505,506 

de  la  Greve  or  de  I'Hotel  de 
Ville,  507. 

aux  Marchands,  229. 

de  Martroy,  137. 

Maubert,  origin  of  name,  172. 

du  Parvis  Notre  Dame,  17,  159, 
163,  354,  518. 

des  Pyramides  (du  Rivoli),  200. 

des  Vosges  (Royale),  308-310,  508  ; 
in  seventeenth  century,  329- 
331 ;  iron  railing  of  the,  331- 
332. 

du  Th(?atre  Frnufais,  spot  where 
Jeanne  d'Arc  was  wounded, 
232. 

Vallee  de  la  Misere,  268,  366. 

Vendome  (des  conquetes,  Louis 
le  Grand,  and  des  Piques),  372- 
373,  478-179. 

des  Victoires,  373-374. 
Pleadings,  Chamber  of,  established, 

156-157. 
"Pleadings  of  the  Door"  of  St.  Louis, 

149-150. 
Poitiers.   Alphonse  de.  College  des 

Bernardins,  172. 
Pol,  Constable  de  St.,  execution,  205. 
Polytechnic,  origin,  173. 
Pompadour,  Mme.  de,  the  Louvre, 

412. 
Ponce  Paul,  and  the  Louvre,  272. 
Pont  d'Arcole,  story  of  the,  504. 

des  Arts,  473. 

Augustins  (Pont  Neuf),  290. 

Au  Change,  111;  built,  154; 
burned  in  1621,  354  :  rebuilt  in 
fourteenth  and  sixteenth  cen- 
turies, 209;  in  seventeenth  cen- 
tury, 3)1. 

de  la  Concorde,  478,  525. 

aux  Meuniers  (Marchand,  Mou- 
lins,  or  des  Oiseaux),  139,  209. 
268,  318,  354. 

St.  Michel,  2.54. 

Neuf,  building  of  the,  289-290;  in 
the  Fronde,  353;  under  Louis 
XVI.,  4.35. 

Notre  Dame  (Grand  Pont),  112 ; 
antiquity  of  site,  25 ;  earliest 
bridge,  54  and  footnote,  100, 
110-111:  called  Notre  Dame, 
243 :  cleared  of  houses,  434 :  de- 
stroyed in  fifteenth  century, 
243-244, 287 : pumps,  391 :  rebuilt 
by  Louis  XII.,  244-245;  in  the 
seventeenth  century,  354,  390; 
used  for  Royal  entries,  291. 

Petit,  ancient  site,  25, 101 ;  origin 
of  fire  of  1718,  441-442;  in  pre- 


INDEX. 


551 


Roman  times,  54  (footnote) ;  re- 
built  in    thirteenth    century, 
16(5 ;    twice    before    sixteenth 
century,    247 ;    in    eighteenth 
century,  442. 
Rouge,  355. 
de  la  Tournelle,  519. 
Pontoise,  exiled  Parliament  at,  438. 
Pope,  Alexander   III.,   corner-stone 
of  Notre  Dame,  160. 
Anastasius'  spurious  letter,  94. 
Clement   VII.    arranges   Henry 

II. 's  marriage,  2fi2-2fi3. 
Clement  XI ,  Queen   Chri.stina's 

pictures,  376. 
Eugenius  III.  and  the  Templars, 

179. 
Pius  VII.,  visit  to  Paris,  481 ,  487, 

493. 
Sixtus  IV.,  Ste.  Genevieve,  249. 
Populntion  at  time  of  Revolution, 

447-448. 
Port  of  St.  Landrv,  46  and  footnote, 

58,111. 

St.  Paul,  177,  218. 
Porte  St.  Antoine,  219 ;  Cond^  enters 
by,    324 ;    restored    for    Louis 
XIV.'s  entry,  324-325. 
St.  Bernard,  172,  392. 
de  Buci,  174. 
de     la    Conf<?rence,    Mazarin's 

flight,  350. 
St.  Denis,  363. 
St.  Germain,  Henrv  IV.'s  attempt 

on,  319. 
St.  Honort\  attacked  by  Jeanne 
d'Arc,  200,  231-233  ;  becomes  a 
meat  market.  349. 
St.  Michel  (d'  Enfer,  or  Gibard), 

170  ;  demoli-shed.  394. 
de  Nesie,  2.54. 

Neuve,  entry  of  Ilenrv  IV.,  301. 
Paris  (,\pport),  209,  2()8. 
PortL\  Pierre  de  la,  in  the  Bastille, 

326. 
Porteurs,  on  installation  of  a  Bishop, 
145.  *^ 

Postes.les,  410,  413. 
Posthumus,  development  of  Paris  in 

time  of,  58. 
Pot  Cassle,  sign  of  Geofifrey  Torey, 

246. 
Poudres  de  succession,  430.  i 

Poultier,  .Jean,  427. 
Poussin,    Nicolas,   Grande   Galerie. 

346. 
Pragmatic  Sanction,  Louis  XL's  re- 
vocation of  the.  241. 
Preachers,  order  of,  169. 
Pr.^  aux  Cleres  and  University,  175, 

295. 
Precieuses  of  the  Marais,  les,  331. 
Predot,  PI.  des  Victoires,  373. 
Prefects  of  Police  and  of  the  Seine 
appointed,  460. 


Prehistoric   remains   in    and    near 

Paris,  43,  ,52-54. 
Pretender,  Charles  Edward,  seized 

in  Palais  Royal,  41K-419. 
Pr6v6t  des  Marchands.  Etienne  Mar- 
cel, 202-203. 
and  Francis  I.,  261. 
and  Henry  IV.,  312. 
and  Louis  XII.,  206-207. 
and  Richelieu,  335. 
de  Paris,  Aubriot,  Hugues,  218- 
219,  ,508  ;  Boisleve,  Etienne,  138 
and  footnote. 
Pr4v6t  de  I'Eau,  .58. 
Priests  of  the  mission,  498-499 
Printing-office,  the  Roval,  .346. 
Printing-presses  first  in   Paris,  250- 
251. 
Marat  and  the  Royal,  472 
Prison,  1' Abbaye,  500-501. 
Bastille,  see  Ba.stille. 
Grand  Chatelet.  207-208, 267  ;  mas- 
sacres, 470. 
Conciergerie,  2.37-238, 240,  288,  492 
St.  Firm  in,  499. 
Hotel  de  Ville,  261. 
La  Force,  181, 427-428 ;  massacres, 

487,  489. 
Luxembourg,  522-523. 
reforms,  470. 
Procession  des  Flagellants,  of  Henry 
III.,  273.  ' 

Programme  de  I'Hotel  de  Ville,  505. 
Property  of  a  criminal,  ceremonv  of 
its  transfer.  229-230. 
Roman  regard  for  rights  of,  79. 
Protestant   party,   the  French,  six- 
teenth centurv,  297. 
Provisional  government,  505. 
Protts,  the  triple,  of  Paris,  57  (foot- 
note). 
Pump  of  Pont  Neuf,  314-315  ;  of  Pont 

Notre  Dame,  391,  435. 
Pure,  Ahbc^  de,  carton-pierre,  372 
Pyramide,  La,  317-318. 

Quai  des  Celestins,  173,  285. 

de  la  Greve,  antiquity,  59. 

de  THorlnge.  widened,  436. 

Malaquais,  295. 

de  Nesle,  the  first  built  in  Paris, 
176,  177. 

des  Orfevres,  353. 

d'Orsay,  526. 

de  la  Tournelle,, 59. 
Quartier,  St.  Andre  des  Arts,  172 

de  la  Bastille,  or  St.  Paul,  179. 

Gaillon,  308. 

des  Halles,  486. 

du  Marais,  179,  225  ;  hotels,  283; 
in  reigns  of  Louis  XIII.  and 
XIV.,  380-3.S4;  in  the  eigh- 
teenth centurv,  431-4.32. 

(In  Temple,  in  "the  Revolution, 


552 


INDEX. 


Quinze  Vingts,  233,  277. 

Rabelais,  40, 188 ;  buried  at  St.  Paul's, 

468. 
Racine,  admitted  to  the  Academj', 

369  ;  Didot's  edition  of,  472. 
Ragenaire,    Count,    ninth    century 

siege,  101. 
Rallard  Gaulthier,  Chev.  du  Guet, 

209-210. 
Raoul,  Constable,  beheaded.  2.53. 
Ratabon,  M.  de.  Superintendent  of 

Buildings,  347-348. 
Ravaillac,  assassin  of  Henry  IV.,  303; 
executed,  3<i3,  323  ;  imprisoned,  440; 
papers  relating  to  trial  destroyed, 
351. 
Raymond,  du    Temple,  Louvre  of 
Charles  V.,  213. 
VII.,  Count  of  Toulouse,  163. 
Rt?camier,    Mme.,    at   I'Abbaye   au 

Bois,  501. 
Reformation,  its  effect  on  England, 

258. 
Regeneration,  statue  of  the,  467. 
Regent,  see  Ork'ans. 
Regnault,  Gov.  of  the  Louvre,  145. 
Renaissance,  effect  of  the,  1,SS;  in 
France,  259,  260 ;  Italian,  258- 
259  ;  spirit  of  the,  255. 
architecture  replaces  Gothic,  298. 
Renan,  "  la  Grande  Curiosity,"  76. 
Renaud,  Cecile,  guillotined,  523. 
Remi,  St.,  baptizes  Clovis,  94 ;  will, 

113. 
Remusat,  M.  de.  Napoleon's  burial- 
place,  526-527. 
Republic  proclamation  of  the  third, 

7. 
Retz,  Cardinal  de,  342. 
Rhodes,  Knights  of,  181.  225. 
Ricciarelli,  Uaniel,  horse  for  Louis 

XIII. 's  statue.  331. 
Richard,  Brother,  at  les  Innocents, 

227. 
Richard  Coeur  de  Lion,  and  Philip- 
Augustus,  142. 
Richelieu,  acquires  Armagnae  prop- 
erty,   231;    body    mutilated,    356; 
death.  3J6  ;  Louis  XIII.  and  the 
Louvre,  345;  at  the  Lu.xembourg 
(Petit),  524  ;  .sends  Mile,  de  Mont- 
pensier  to  Paris,  .349  ;  Palais  Royal, 
333-339  ;  Sorbonne,   3;55-356  ;  statue 
of  Louis  XIII.,  330-331 ;  tomb,  356, 
.520-521. 
Richmont,  Constable,  recovers  Paris, 

200,  233. 
Rigon,  daughter  of  Chilperic,  96. 
Riouff,  in  the  Conciergerie,  492. 
Robert  the  .Strong,  100, 101. 

Count  of  Paris,  son  of  preceding, 

107. 
King,  builds  St.  Germain  I'Aux- 
errois,  140. 


Robertian  House,  the,  39. 
Robespierre,  7  ;  arrested,  456  ;  at  the 
(Jonciergerie,    492 ;    executed, 
459  ;  fete  of  the  Supreme  Being, 
477;  at  Hotel  de  Ville,  4.54  ;  out- 
lawed,   457;    9th    Thermidor, 
456,  457-459. 
the  younger,  9th  Thermidor,  4.59. 
Roederer  conducts  the  royal  family 

to  the  Convention,  477. 
Rohan,  Cardinal  de,  429,  430,  489. 

Prince  de,  429,  430. 
Roland  (the  song  of),  popularity,  127- 

Mme.,  at  I'Abbaye,  501 ;  before 
the  Tribunal,  491. 
Rollin,  at  College  de  Beauvais,  395; 

at  College  de  Plessis,  397. 
RoUo,  Duke  of  Normandy,  101. 
Rome,  the  King  of,  baptism,  493; 

birth,  481. 
Roman  burial  customs,  178;  law  and 
Paris,  39-40  ;  remains  found  on 
rile    de    la  Cit^,  111 ;    roads, 
identity  on  modern  map,  67- 
68 ;  tombs  on  northern  road, 
181. 
Empire,  causes  of  decline,  78-81 ; 
transformed,  57. 
Romanesque,  architecture,  118-119. 
Rondelet,  the  Pantheon, 444. 
Ransard,  lines  on  the  Tuileries,  280 

(footnote). 
Rousseau,  J.  J.,  7 ;  body  taken  to  the 
Pantheon,  496;  his  Emile  burned 
in  the  Palais,  441. 
Royale,    Mme.    Duchesse    d'Angou- 

leme,  at  the  Temple,  487-488. 
Roziere,  Deputv  de  la,  sent  to  parley 

with  Gov.  of  the  Bastille,  465. 
Rubens,  scenes  from  life  of  Marie  de 

Medicis,  523. 
Rue  d'Allemagne,  Roman  road  to 
Senlis,  07-68. 
Ste.  Anne  (Boileau)  opened,  353. 
St.  Antoine,  lists  on,  284,  288. 
d'Arcole,  164. 
du  Bac,  278,  357. 
Barbette,  181. 

Barillerie  (Boul.  du  Palais),  154. 
Barres,  origin  of  the  name,  178. 
de  Beam,  309-310. 
de  Birague.  309-310. 
St.  Benoit,  358. 
Bonaparte,  canal  on  line  of  the, 

176. 
des  Bons  Enfants,   old   road  to 

Clichy,  183. 
de  la  Boucherie,  17. 
de  la  Bucherie,  166, 167. 
de  la  Calandre,  1.58. 
des  Carmes,  248-249. 
du  Carrousel,  473. 
du  Clotre  Notre  Dame,  165,  518. 
de  la  Colombe,  164. 


INDEX. 


553 


de     Constantine,    Gallo-Roman 

ruins,  58  (footnote). 
Croix  des  Petits  Champs,  230. 
Dante,  why  named,  1(57. 
Dauphine,  172;  opened,  290. 
St.  Denis,  209. 
Domat  (du  Piatre),  248. 
de  I'Eeole  dc  M(?decine,  171. 
des  Ecoles,  168. 
du  Faubojrg  St.  Denis,  Roman 

road  to  the  north,  68. 
du  Faubourg  St.  Martin,  Roman 

road  to  Senlis,  67-68. 
des  Fosses  St.  (iermain  I'Auxer- 

rois,  origin  of  the  name,  139. 
Fouarre,  origin  of  the  name,  167. 
Fran(,'ois  Miron,  507-508. 
Francs  Bourgeois,  309  310. 
Galarde,  166. 
de    Grenelle,    Roman   road   of 

Crenelle  and  Is-y,  68. 
de  la  Harpe,  171. 
St.  Honors,  12,  15-16,  449  ;  char- 
acteristics, 15  ;  named,  140  ;  old 
road  to  Chaillot,  183. 
St.  Jacques,  Roman  road  of  Ar- 

cueil,  67, 166. 
de  la  Juiverie  {de  la  Cite),  158, 

291-292. 
St.  Jean  de  Beauvais,  248. 
Lecourbe,    Roman  road  to  the 

south  and  west,  68. 
Leufroi,  208,  267. 
des  Lions,  origin  of  the  name,  211. 
Lourcine  (Broca),  522. 
des  Marai.-,  Huguenots  in  the, 

295. 
du  Marchi?  Palu,  160,  292. 
de  Martroy,  137. 
Mouffetard,  origin  of  the  name, 

69. 
Nazareth,  bridge  over  the,  289. 
Neuve  St.  Louis,  353. 
de  Nevers,  290. 
Notre  Dame,  164. 
derOpera(Ave.),  18-19. 
du  Pare  Royal,  origin  of  name, 

224. 
de  la  Pelleterie,  158. 
Pierre  a  Poi-sson,  268. 
du  Platre  (Domat),  248. 
de  Rivoli,  12,  473. 
Vaugirard,  old  Roman  road,  68. 
Victoria  (Ave.).  .505-506. 
des  Vosges,  309-310. 
Ruelle,  des  Gobelins,  522. 

Sage,  Balthasar  Georges,  metallur- 
gist, 446. 
Saint  Fargeau,  Lepelletier  de,  484- 
486,  496. 
Just,  arrest,  456  ;  at  Ecossais  Col- 
lege prison,  499  ;  executed,  459; 
outlawed,  4.57  ;  repartee  of,  62. 
Mars,  Gov.  of  the  Bastille,  327. 


Simon,  accident  at  the  Bailliage, 
385  ;  childhood  of  Louis  XIV., 
340. 

Salic  law,  confirmed,  147;  first  re- 
corded operation,  95. 

Salm  Kirbourg,  Prince  de,  525-526. 

SalpetriC-re,  removed  to  left  bank, 
311. 

Samaritaine,  La,  340  ;  destroyed,  490  ; 
and  tlie  Grand  Jeusneur,  .355 ;  re- 
stored, 387. 

Santerre,  the  Brewer,  4.54. 

Santeui],  inscription  on  St.  Michel 
fountain,  394. 

Sarrazin,  Jacques,  his  caryatides  at 
the  Louvre,  346. 

Sauval,  on  Gabrielle  d'Estr(?es'  ini- 
tials, 305 ;  King's  bedchamber, 
274  ;  Hotel  de  Ville  (decorations), 
204;  Palais  Royal,  335;  stained 
glass  of  the  Enfants  Dieu,  382-383; 
Place  du  Carrousel,  349. 

Savov,  Louise  de,  260,  261 ;  at  Hotel 
de  Ville,  207. 

Savoisy,  Charles  de,  Chamberlain, 
226. 
Philip  de,  bailli  royal,  237. 

ScudOry,  Mile,  de,  the  Precieuses  of 
the  Marais,  331. 

Section  des  Gravilliers,  on  the  9th 
Thermidor,  458. 
des  Piques,  proclamation  of  the 
9th  Thermidor,  457-458. 

Sedan,  news  of  the  disasterof  reaches 
Paris,  506. 

Siguier,  Chancellor,  377. 

Senate,  Republican,  at  the  Luxem- 
bourg, 523-524. 

Senlis,  51. 

Senones,  kinsmen  of  the  Parisii,47, 
56. 

Servandoni,  445. 

Seurre,  statue  of  Napoleon  I.,  515. 

StWigne,  Mme.  de,  execution  of  Mme. 
de  Brinvilliers,  363-364  ;  of  La  Voi- 
sin,  364  ;  occupies  H6tel  Carnava- 
let,  328  ;  Fouquet  coming  from  his 
trial,  328. 

Siege,  the  Barbarian  (ninth  century), 
100-107. 

Sigebert,  son  of  Clotaire,  95-96. 

Siger  de  Brabant,  167,  and  footnote. 

Sigfried,  avenges  (Godfrey's  murder, 
101  ;  siege  of  Paris,  101,  105. 

Sigismund  at  the  Palais,  238-239. 

Simon  de  Buci,  Bishop,  162. 

Simon,  the  Cordwainer,  guillotined, 
459. 

Simplicity,  decay  of,  190. 

Sites,  di-sapoearance  of  revolution- 
ary, 449. 

Societv,  separation  of  classes  in  later 
Middle  Aixvs.  193-194. 

Solomon,  L,'(il<i  cross  of,  115. 

Sombreuil,  M.  de,  escapes  from  I'Ab- 


554 


INDEX. 


baye,  501 ;  he  and  his  son  guillo- 
tmed,  523. 
Sommerard,  M.  de,  Hotel  Cluny,  497. 
Sorel,  I'Histoire  Comique  de  Frau- 

cion,  444. 
Soubise,  Mme.  de,  favorite  of  Louis 

XIV.,  429. 
Soufflot,  J.  G.,  buried  in  the  Pan- 
theon, 444  ;  t5coles  de  droit,  444  ; 
Notre  Dame,  391-392  ;  and  sacristy, 
518 ;  Pantheon,  443-444  ;  Salle  des 
Machines,  414. 
Soul6s,  commandant  of  the  Bastille, 

466. 
Souvr^,  Jacques  de,  Grand  Prior,  333  ; 

monument  of,  395. 
Spain,  treaty  of  Henry  IV.  with,  313. 
Spirituels,  concerts  of  the  Tuileries, 

414. 
Stael,  Mme.  de,  at  Hotel  de  Ville, 
455-456 ;     at    the     Salm-Kirbourg 
Palace,  526. 
Stain,  village  of,  112. 
Star,  Order  of  the,  suppressed  by 

Charles  VII.,  210. 
States-General,  assembled  by  Philip 
le  Bel,  163. 
at  Versailles,  474. 
Statue  of  Augustus  at  the  Louvre, 
306. 
St.  Denis,  245. 
Enguerrand  de  ISIarigny  in  the 

Palais  de  la  Cite,  155-156. 
Our  Lady,  on  Pont  Notre  Dame, 

245. 
Our  Lady  of  Good  Deliverance 

and  St.  Francis  de  Sales,  169. 
Our  Lady  of  Paris,  192. 
the  Madonna  at  Kheims,  192. 
Henry  IV.  on  the   Pont   Neuf, 
original  one,  315-316,  490;  pres- 
ent one,  516. 
Henry  V.  (of  England)  in  Grand' 

Salie  of  the  Palais,  240. 
Louis  XIII.  at  Notre  Dame,  354  ; 

in  Place  des  Vosges,  50<s. 
Louis  XIV.  at  Hotel  de  Ville  (by 
Covzevox),  365;    (by  Gu(5rin), 
362"-363,  365  ;  at  Notre  Dame,  by 
Coyzevox,  354  ;  in  Place  Ven- 
dorae,  by  Girardon  and  Keller, 
373,  478  ;  in  Place  des  Victoires, 
373,  374. 
Louis  XV.,  replaced  by  the  guil- 
lotine, 478. 
Napoleon    I.,  on  column    Yen- 
dome,  479,  515. 
Pinel,  Philippe,  521. 
Simon  de  Buci  in  Notre  Dame, 
162. 
Statues,  the  royal,  overthrown  in  the 
Revolution,  490. 
series  of  the  Kings  of  France  in 
Grand'  Salle  of  the  Palais,  155, 
240,  350. 


Stevenson,  describes  Paris  by  night, 

256. 
Strabo,  Lucotocia,  55 ;  water  trans- 
portation of  the  Gauls,  57. 
Streets  of  Paris   paved  by  Philip- 
Augustus,  13;^,  148-149. 
Street   lamps,   emblem    on   the,  57 

(footnote) ;  executions,  461-463. 
Students  of  the  Middle  Agei^,  175. 
Suburbs,  growth  ox  the,  131,  1k5,  186, 

187,  447-448. 
Suger,   Abbot  of  St.   Denis,    Notre 

Dame,  160. 
Sully,  the  Arsenal,  309,  310-312;  PI. 
Dauphine,317  ;  and  Henry  IV., 
302  ;  transfers  treasure  to  the 
Bastille,  312 ;  retires  from  oflice, 
327. 
Maurice  de.  Bishop,  begins  Notre 
Dame,  160 ;    builds  Episcopal 
Palace,  165  ;  leaves  money  to 
roof  Notre  Dame,  160. 
Supreme  Being,  fete  of  the,  477. 
Syagrius,  vanquished  by  Clovis,  93. 

Table,  the  marble,  236,  240,  350. 
Tableau  de  Paris,  the  Arsenal  and 

Marais  described  in  the,  431-432. 
Tables  of  St.  Louis'  charity,  150. 
Tacca,  Pietro,  statue  of  Henry  IV., 

315. 
Tanneguay   du    Chfttel   carries  the 
Dauphin  Charles  VII.  to  the  Bas- 
tille, 220. 
Tax,  the  Capitation,  365-366. 
Templars,    early    history    of    their 
commandery,    179-181 ;    estate  di- 
vided up,  226;   enclosed,  217;  en- 
croachments, 136 ;   extermination 
of  the  order,  135,  181,  225. 
Temple,  in  the  sixteenth  century, 
282  ;  in  the  seventeenth  cen- 
tury, 332,  333  ;    rotunda,  288  ; 
royal  family  in  the,  487-488. 
suppers  of  Philip  of  Vendome, 
380. 
Tennis  court  oath,  the,  474. 

courts  of  the  Louvre,  274-275. 
Terra  ad  Fiscum  Isciacensem,  of  Ro- 
man times,  68. 
Teutonic  names  in  suburbs  of  Paris, 
112-113;  tribes,  characteristics  of 
the,  86. 
Th(5atre,  Fran^ais    (Comt^die  Fran- 
Caise),  origins  of  the,  425,  426. 
of  St.  Martin,  425. 
Odeon,  524. 

of  the  Palais  Royal.  335,  343-344. 
de    Monsieur    (Salle    des     Ma- 
chines),   :371-372,    414-415,    449, 
477,  480. 
Thi?atins,  introduced   into  France, 

401. 
Thermidor,  the  9th,  456-159. 
Thiers,  new  line  of  fortifications,  519. 


INDEX. 


555 


Thieves,  destination  of  articles  found 

on,  'JOS. 
Thirteenth  century,  cliaracteristics 

of  the,  rJ6-127. 
Tiers  Etat,  National  Assembly,  474. 
Tinville,  Fouquier,  Pres.  of"  Revo- 
lutionary Tribunal,  491-492. 
Tocsin  of  Hotel  de  Ville,  452,  456, 

504. 
Torey,  Geoffrey,  the  printer,  246. 
Tour  d'.\rgent,  150,  517. 
Barbeau,  216. 
de  Barn?s,  177. 
de  Billey,  177,  217  ;  explosion  in 

the,  285. 
du  Bois,  212  ;  origin  of  name,  234- 

235. 
Bon    Bee   (or   St.    Louis),   517; 

oubliettes  under  the,  237-238. 
de  Wsar,  150,  517. 
du  Coin,  234. 
du  roi  Dagobert,  111. 
Eiffel,  4-5. 

de  St.  Germain  des  Prds,  174,  501- 
502  ;  Henry  IV.  in  the,  319-320. 
del'Horloge,  22,  23,  154-155,517; 
decoration   of    the   clock    by 
Henry  III.,  289. 
St.  Jacques,  11, 17,  269,  509. 
Loriaux,  172. 
du   Louvre,  141-142,  144,  146,  213, 

215-216,  270-271. 
de  Montgommery,  288,  388,  440. 
de  Nesle,  147,  186,  234,  400. 
de  Philippe  Hamelin,  2.53. 
du  Temple,  179,  225,  487, 488. 
Tournaments   of  Hotel-  des   Tour- 

nelles,  284. 
Tournelle,  the,  59.  172. 

of  the  Quai  de  IHorloge,  239. 
Toussac,  follower  of  Etienne  Marcel, 

203. 
"  Tower  where  the  King  went  when 

they  tilted,"  146. 
Tower  of  London,  141. 
Towers,  Philip-Augustus'  policy,  143- 

144. 
Tremblay,  Leclerc  du,  Gov.  of  Bas- 
tille, 324. 
Tresor  des  Chartres,  built  by  Pierre 
de  Montereau,  440-441 ;  torn  down, 
440-441. 
Tribunal  de  Commerce,  518. 

the  Revolutionary,  in  Palais  de 
la  CittS  491-192. 
Tribunate  in  the  Palais  Royal,  510. 
Trit)unes  of  Xotre  Dame,  162. 
Tricolor,  origin  of  the,  451  and  foot- 
note. 
Tricoteuses,  les.  4SG,  491. 
Trochu,  (xen.,  de.serts  Empress  Eu- 
genie, 513. 
Tuileries,  tile  kilns,  23.3-2.34. 
Turgot,    Pr(?v6t.    widens    Quai    de 
I'Horloge,  436. 


Unity  and  indivisibility  of  the  Re- 
public, fete  of  the,  467. 

University,  arrogance  in  the  Middle 
Ages,  175;  in  cloisters  of  Notre 
Dame.  16.5-166;  and  the  College 
Mazariu,  401 ;  foundations  of  the, 
132, 185  ;  under  Henry  IV.,  318-319  : 
and  the  Jacobins,  169-170;  power 
in  fourteenth  and  fifteenth  centu- 
ries, 226  ;  from  1328  to  1515,  247-2.53  ; 
in  the  si.xteenth  centurv,  293 ;  in 
the  Revolution,  407,  494-500  ;  in  the 
nineteenth  (the  Sorbonne),  520-521. 

Valerian,  view  from  hill  of,  1-14. 
Valliere,    Mile,   de,    at   the    Palais 

Royal,  374-375. 
Valois,  Due  de  (Francis  I.), 261. 
Due  de,  Louis  Philippe,  424. 
Due  de  Philippe,  claimant  to  the 

throne,  195. 
Marguerite  of,  her  brother's  es- 
cape, 275  ;  marriage,  and  mas- 
sacres of  St.  Bartholomew,  275- 
276  ;  Palace  and  Park,  320,  357. 
Vandiere,  M.  de,  Superintendent  of 

Buildings,  412. 
Van  Dyck,  portrait  of  Charles  I.,  376. 
Van  Eyck,  the  crucifixion,  in   the 

Palais,  243. 
Vanloo,    portrait    of  Duchesse    de 

Maine,  329. 
Vassals  of  the  crown  in  eleventh 

century,  128-129  ;  at   the   Louvre, 

144. 
Vauban,  fortifications  in  seventeenth 

century,  404, 
Vaugirard.  quarry  of,  278. 
Vectigal  cities,  60. 
ViJmars.  the  name,  113. 
Vendde,  return  of  volunteers  for  la, 

456. 
Vendome,    Philip  of.  Grand  Prior. 

380. 
Ventadour,  Mme.   de,  Louis  XV. 's 

governess,  389. 
Verard,   Antoine,  book  stalls  in  the 

Palais,  287. 
Vercingetorix,  59-60. 
Versailles,  the  march  to,  451-452. 
Vetruvius,  on  Roman  baths,  65. 
Vervins,  treaty,  302. 
Vic,  Dominique  de,  Commander  of 

Bastille,  312. 
Vigarini,  Salle  des  Machines,  371- 

372. 
Vignon,  Claude,  329. 

Pierre,  the  Madeleine,  483 
Villa,  ancestor  of  the  village,  82. 

Nova  Templii,  179, 
Villein  of  eleventh  century.  123. 
Villon,  madness  of,  188  ;  Stevenson's 

description  of,  256  ;  Isabella  of  Ba- 
varia at  Hotel  de  Nesle,  2.54. 
Vincennes,  Mazarin's  death  at,  349. 


556 


INDEX. 


Vincent,  St.,  the  stole  or  tunic  of,  9r>, 
115. 
de    Paul,    the     Madelonnettes, 
pritsts  of  the  Mission,  4".)<S-499. 

Viollet  le  Due,  .St.  Eustache,  281,  377- 
378  ;  Notre  Dame,  '24,  517-.'il8. 

Visconti,  plans  for  junction  of 
Louvre  and  Tuileries,  511-512 ; 
tomb  of  Napoleon.  526. 

Visigoths,  expelled  from  Gaul,  93. 

Vitet  on  Lemercier's  work  at  tlie 
Louvre,  345. 

Vitry,  Louis  de  I'Hospital,  283. 

Voltaire,  7 ;  his  body  at  the  Place 
de  la  Bastille,  467  ;  at  the  Pantheon 
(Ste.  Genevieve),  495  ;  celebration 
in  Salle  des  Machines,  415  ;  death, 
415;  lit  de  justice  of  Louis  XIV., 
386  ;  on  the  Louvre.  411-412 :  Ninon 
de  Lenclos  and,  508 ;  on  the  six- 
teenth century.  256. 

Vouet,  Simon,  329 ;  at  the  Palais 
Koyal,  337. 


Vover,    Marquis   de   and    Philippe 

d'Orieans,  423. 
Voysin,   Chancellor,    and    will    of 

Louis  XIV.,  388-389. 

Wall  of  Charles    V.    (Etienne  Mar- 
cel's). 212,   216-217,  226,  230,  233- 
234,  235,  349. 
of  Philip  Augustus,  133,  140-141. 

169,  170,172,174-175,183. 
Octroi  of  Louis  XVI.,  446,  519. 
Walls,  the  first  Boundary,  69 ;  around 

rile  de  la  Citt?,  120-121. 
Wars,  the  English,  effect  on  France, 
133,  19.5-201. 
the  Italian,  200. 
of  religion,  134. 
Winchester,  Bishop,  consecration  of 

Henry  VI.  of  England,  240. 
Williaiii  the  Conqueror,  128,  141. 

Xavier,  St.,  at  College  de  Beauvais, 

248. 


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